Naruto world jumping AU
by endario
Summary: this is not my work, this belongs to a friend who uses Wattpad, who i have been bouncing ideas off of. This friend has also been using the works of other people from Wattpad, so i must stress that i own NONE of the characters, or the plot, all of this belongs to the authors of Wattpad and my friend, Sukikmu.
1. description

Honestly, the first thing I thought after I woke up was, 'I'm alive?' And that very thought weirded me out since for one, I didn't ever remember being dead. Like seriously! Why would anyone ever remember being dead?!

After that I went to school like normal, though with a lingering black cloud at the back of my mind. Meeting Trisha after that was nothing short of a dream, with a rush of emotions and memories coursing my mind...and then I cried, without ever holding back.

A year passed without any problems caused by the abominable meteorite Mega, or so I thought.

I woke up again, this time in a foreign world, a world I only knew through the back of a screen. I didn't really freak out, more like I was too freaked out to even really freak out or show myself freaking out! Okay, enough of that.

The revelation that I wasn't the only one stuck in an unknown world, though, really did shock me! And simply like that, my friend's and my adventures began in the different worlds of Anime, Stories and Games. Regretfully, though, I was to be joined in my adventure by the most sadistic human of all.

Nightmares and Dreams, two faces of the same coin, a lesson we all learned, sadly a little too late, showing the dark side of each of us and one's dreams~


	2. prologue

_Prologue_

 _I opened my eyes and blinked, not once but twice, only to be met by total darkness. It was very relaxing as I closed my eyes feeling the moist darkness slip through my fingers as I was ready to go back to sleep when a brain wrecking ringing started._

 _I yelled out in pain letting out a bunch of bubbles out of my mouth that echoed my cry again and again every single time a bubble popped. I snapped my eyes open and the ringing stopped suddenly. Okaaay, so I'm not allowed to sleep right now? I sighed letting out another bubble out of my mouth._

 _I slowly touched it with my finger to let it pop, echoing my words over and over again. I laughed at that, letting out even more bubbles. Those always made me feel better for some reason. As I stopped laughing, I started looking around._

 _I was apparently floating in dark black space, as if I was in the depth of the ocean. This place again. I sighed, this time the echoes failed to make me laugh. Will I see another scene from that girl and boy? I wonder who's showing me this and why? I brushed my empty thoughts aside as I started swimming around in the strange space._

 _I looked all around me trying to find the glowing strings I saw the last time I came to this place. I'm not really sure what those strings meant either, but they were the only thing I could search for in this empty black space._

 _Something shone from the corner of my eyes, so I turned around and squinted hard. I couldn't really tell what it was from this distance so I dived right to it. The closer I got, the more I could make out several thin lines, in all sizes and colors. The strings! Before I knew it, I was completely surrounded by the strings._

 _I looked around at the many beautiful and curly strings, wondering which to grab onto first this time around. I giggled as I felt a string tickle my back. As my giggles echoed, I turned around and caught the guilty string. It was a deep purple colored string._

 _A weird feeling started to bubble up inside of me. And the longer I caught onto the purple string the more that weird feeling increased. Though there was one thing that I did know about it, it was the fact that I_ _loathed_ _that feeling._

 _In my obstinate rage, I yelled as I pulled out at the string as hard as I could. Cutting it off wherever it is it was hanged. I looked dead at it as the weird feeling subside though the feeling of hatred towards it didn't really die out at all but instead increased. I was about to start yelling again and rip the string apart even more but prior to that, a group of white strings wrapped themselves around me._

 _A soothing feeling started to swell inside me this time, making me release the purple string into the darkness as it slowing sank in the black space. I looked and stared it for so long as it disappeared from my sight. The feeling of loathing gone and forgotten, I felt extremely exhausted as I really felt like sleeping this time._

 _I closed my eyes from a few seconds but the annoying ringing came back so I was forced to snap my eyes open again. I looked around the sea of strings tiredly, till I caught sight of an unusually thin string with no specific color. It was that same string I grabbed onto to show me that weird vision! Though it seemed a bit thicker than last time, or maybe it was imagination..._

 _I reached out my hand to it but then stopped, hesitant. I don't know, maybe it was because I was tired or something, but for some reason, I was scared. I gulped the lump in my throat as I slowly wrapped my fingers around it though not completely grasping it._

 _"Believe in yourself~"_

 _I grit my teeth as determination lighted up in my eyes as I fully grasped unto the incoherent string, lifting me up quickly to the surface, if there ever was one. And in a flash I was out of the black sea only to be met this time by a white sky. Clouds came out of my mouth as I let out a sigh from exhaustion, instead of bubbles, that echoed my sigh as they dispersed._

 _"You said it was going to be fun..."_

 _A brunette girl mumbled, wearing a pretty white nightgown, as a blonde boy pushed her on the swing hard before running to the swing beside her, and started swinging himself back and forth. The boy was a blonde, still wearing his blue shirt and white shorts. Both kids were barefooted again, their eyes hidden by their bangs._

 _"I wonder why?"_

 _I thought aloud, forming multiple clouds again._

 _"What do you mean? We're playing in the swings! How is that not fun?!"_

 _The boy replied the girl enthusiastically._

 _"..."_

 _The girl stayed silent as her swing stopped moving. The boy, too, stopped moving his swing, looking down. The poor boy, he was trying so hard too._

 _The boy seemed to have been thinking for a while and then he suddenly looked up, his face lit up with an idea. And I could've almost sworn that I saw a lightbulb atop of his head._

 _The boy put his hands in front of each other, as he balanced himself on the swing with only his feet. The girl looked at him curiously and then slightly jumped when the boy started to yell a battle cry. I, too, honestly jumped a bit at that._

 _His hands then started to glow and both I and the little girl looked intently to discover what he was trying to form only to realize when he was done that it was...an ice cream?! I mentally face palmed though the little girl seemed pretty amazed as I could almost see her eyes shine behind her bangs._

 _"An Ice Cream!"_

 _She yelled out in admiration as the boy rubbed his nose proudly._

 _"Not just any ice cream! It's the coldest, sweetest, sourest, most tasty, and impossible to melt cone of ice cream ever made!"_

 _"WOAH!"_

 _The girl yelled excitedly, her swing actually shaking from all of the excitement. The boy laughed cheekily as he handed her the ice cream,_

 _"Here..."_

 _The girl looked awed at him and then at the ice cream, she hesitantly took it, and stared at it. Loving it too much to actually eat it._

 _After a few minutes, the girl finally decided to actually eat the ice cream. Though just as she was about to lick it, she noticed how the blonde boy was staring intently at her,...drooling._

 _The girl giggled as she put the ice cream cone in between them and smiled. The boy smiled widely at the gesture, as they both hungrily licked the ice cream by turn, getting multiple brain freezes though. It was so cute watching them that I ended up laughing quite a bit mentally._

 _"So are you having fun?"_

 _"Yes!"_

 _Just as the little girl replied, the white space suddenly started to shake and crumble,_

 _"Wha-?"_

 _Before I could even finish my question, the space completely fell apart, making me sink into a dark abyss as I yelled frightened._

I rolled over in my bed several times, waving my hands and feet around until I finally snapped my eyes open. 'I'm...alive?' That was strangely the first thought that coursed my mind. After that, I had a sudden urge to look outside. I crawled out of my bed slowly and quietly as to not wake up my younger sister, Jenny. I then tip-toed towards the window in time to see the sun rising. The scene was strangely calming as a relieved smile made its way to my lips, "What a beautiful dawn..." I said as new sunrise began; meaning that yesterday passed and today has started. That thought alone, made me feel at ease for some weird reason. I giggled to myself as I stretched, getting ready to go to school.


	3. chapter 1

**Chapter 1: The End's Begining**

"Bell, dearie, wake up! You'll be late,-" My mom's voice resounded as I dug my head deeper onto my pillow, "-today is your camping trip, right? You'll miss it if you don't wake up right now!" I snapped my eyes open at that and rose quickly from my bed, maybe even too quickly as I started to feel dizzy while holding my head. As soon as I had my head straight again I snapped a look left at my younger sister, Jenny. "Hey! Why didn't you wake me up?" I yelled as she was buttoning her shirt, she looked lazily at me and without even batting an eyelash she said, "Because you always complain how it feels like someone just struck your bed with an earthquake..." I glared at her and wanted to argue more but time doesn't wait for anyone so I went off my comfy bed and rushed to the bathroom.

After I locked the door behind me, I looked at myself in the mirror as I brushed my hair. My face was pale and I had bags under my eyes, my hair was also flying off in all sorts of weird angles, "Yeesh! I look as if I just came back from the dead!" I stopped moving at that and stared longer at my mirror reflection. I put my hand over my right eye and opened it slowly to reveal a silver colored eye. I looked at my reflection a while longer before I closed it and washed my face with cold water, 'It has already been a whole year hasn't it?' I thought as I looked sullenly at the flowing water...

The shock I had that day. Waking up to the thought of being alive, I couldn't believe it for some reason. That day, I thought, was the same as any other day, but I was gravely wrong. With my mind being muffled by a dark cloud I went to school dazed and doubtful of the existence of this day itself, though I wasn't sure why. After I reached school and saw a blonde being bullied, I unconsciously called out her name that I strangely knew, "You're Trisha...aren't you?" Her head slowly turned around, shock painting all over her nature green eyes, "Bell?" After that, the strangest thing happened, I had regained my memories that I didn't know I lost, and one of those many memories was the memory of being _dead_.

However, before I could even process my thoughts well. Trisha started crying and jumped on me, crying her eyes out, begging Mega that this wasn't a hopeful dream. I then later on found myself crying with her, hugging her tighter than I ever did to someone before, crying out my apologies over and over again, not caring at all for the weird gazes of the people around us.

Chris then ended up joining us, hiding his teary eyes with his hand, a large thankful grin on his face. I also remember after that the words that my sisters gave me, "We don't know you if anybody asks." I wonder why I remembered that now. After Trisha and I let go of each other, rather very reluctantly, someone covered Trisha's eyes with their hands. _"Guess who~?"_ A chorus of three resounded. Trisha shook as I knew her eyes were about to cry out again after they just dried away, but she held back putting out a bold front.

 _"Ronald, George, Ultrich! Arrêter cette stupidité tu de suite!"_ Trisha said in a beautiful firm French accent. She turned around and tried to glare at her brothers only to fail miserably, her brothers' eyes too were welling up, " _S'il te plait_ , don't tell me we have to group hug again." Ronald said, tears already falling off his face, "Just get over here..." Trisha said as she pulled onto her brothers' arms, embracing them in a hug as she cried. Dusting myself off as I stood up, I watched their reunion almost crying myself again, before the moment was interrupted by Yuri who kept on hitting me on my head several times with a ruler yelling, "Baka!" over and over again as much as I was apologizing.

There was one more thing that I remembered about that day, it was one of the greatest miracles I ever saw. The bystanders around us, that watched us with weird glances, one by one, tears started spilling from their eyes. At that moment several gasps and 'why's resounded as everyone wondered about the reason to their crying outbursts. It was a very sad sight and yet it was also very beautiful for some reason. School, work and all activities that day stopped.

Going home that day I remember seeing in the news that most people all over the Middle East, South Africa, Europe and even Southwest Asia cried all of a sudden that day; they were all the places Mega's influence reached. Seems that even though close to none remember the miseries Mega gave them, they still all remembered the pain they felt taking part in that living nightmare, and so as soon as they woke to the faces of their loved ones and comfy homes, cried their eyes out to their relief and to gush out all of their desolation.

That was a very shocking day to most, especially for those who didn't remember, and this very day was marked in history as 'The Day Where the World Cried'. Finally after that, last thing I remember was plopping on my bed thinking if this was really the happy ending we were hoping for. Looking up at the azure sky painted with faint white clouds I thought that that was the bluest sky I ever saw in my life, also about the things we take for granted and their real beauty once you notice them.

I hurriedly picked off whatever clothes felt comfortable and pretty, them being a short long-sleeved purple dress and a pair of black pants, and then hurried off to the door with a carton of milk in my mouth and a cupcake in my had as I wore my brown shoes on. "Bell, it's not good to eat in a moving vehicle so finish quickly before you go on the car, okay?" "Yeah!" I yelled back to my mother as I finished wearing my shoes, flipping my big black backpack over my shoulder, "Oof! Heavy..." I said straining to keep my back straight under the weight of my bag.

Just as I was about to head out of the door, I heard my mom call over, "Honey, are you sure you got everything?" "Yeah!" "Rollers?" "Yes!" "Extra clothes?" "Yes!" "Glasses, extra lenses and an extra eye patch?" "Yeah, yup and yes!" "And-" "Mom, I'm fine. I totally have everything I need."I said laughing as my mom hugged me from behind, "I know sweetie, it's just that I'm your mother and so I worry. Have fun on your camping trip and don't fight okay?" She said as I nodded. She gave me a peck on the forehead and then sent me off as I ran to our car, hoping that I'm still not late.

Our car stopped after we drove on for a while. I looked up at the red light, which reminded me of two certain redheads...

I suddenly got a phone call from Chris, a few days after the crying incident. And the words he told me shocked me even though the news weren't that extraordinary.

 _"I met the Renocks at the mall today..."_

Turns out that Chris and Naruda lived in the same neighborhood and accidently met when both families went out shopping. The sadness and relief Chris felt that day seeing both of them, especially a certain little redhead, was something I could never imagine. I wouldn't be surprised even if he told me that he cried then and there, but I guess he had too much pride to do that. They gave each other their phone numbers and e-mails and prepared a day for all of us to meet up. "Thanks." Was the simple word I muttered, the only one I could as I felt my heart stuck in my throat as it beat loudly. I silently cried as relief swept through me, 'Polly...'

That day we all met up at a nearby park. We were all there: Naruda, Trisha, Chris, I, even some of my and Chris's friends decided to join the festive, refusing to let us go alone, and finally also a certain redhead that we all gave a bone crushing hug to. Our families joined us too,, for the worst or best. I remember one particular thing that I regretted about bring our families over with us which is the dangerous gleam in Iris's, Raphael's, and, I think his name was, Mark's eyes as they keenly looked at Chris, Naruda and I, making us feel completely uncomfortable. 'Oh sh*t, the elder siblings' alliance really does exist! And I thought it was just an urban legend!' Was the thought that coursed my mind at the time.

"Okay, our parents and siblings are busy talking to each other, so let's get to it shall we: First, what is going on?" Naruda asked as we all looked at each other, confusion lacing all of our faces. "Well for one, we know that whatever the explosion was, it had the effect of turning back time." Trisha summarized up what happened, "Yeah but one, what caused the explosion, and two how? How can that have turned time around?" And three, was this whole time thing really in our favor? I asked the question mentally, not out loud, not wanting to ruin everyone's good mood about seeing each other again.

Our group fell silent again until Chris broke it, "I don't really know why we're thinking about all this. It just happened, we should be happy! What we should ask is: if what's happening really real or just a dream?" Everyone looked confused at Chris, "I think you too know Chris that this whole situation is too great to be just a dream created by Mega." "I meant it the other way around. Not that this is a dream and we're still fighting Mega, but what if the whole battle was a dream and right now we just woke up? I mean come on! I don't think that the dead can come back to life no matter how much of a miracle that explosion was." Chris's question struck a bolt of revelation in most of our hearts, well all except mine.

I shook my head and took out of my bag a weird type of dagger, it had the handle of a flash memory and the dagger was almost like the metal head but reshaped and longer, my flash dagger. Everyone looked wide eyed at it, "Well that clears the suspicion that our adventure was nothing but a nightmare." Naruda said as I opened my mouth to speak, "Well there is this and then there are Warmy and Mahawa-" "There! Hold it! Now explain who the heck are those two and from where did they bring the glowing weapons?!" Chris yelled interrupting me, and now everyone was eager to hear the truth about that as well.

I sighed as I mumbled a few words quickly in an inaudible whisper, "Hah?" I repeated this time a bit louder but still not enough, "mynimagirneryfghends..." "Your what now?" "My Imaginary Friends! There I said it!" I yelled as the others jumped back from the sudden rise in my tone. "Bell? Are you alright?" "Yes mom!" I said and then glared at the others for making me say something so embarrassing. "Then the glowing weapons..." "They got them from their world..." I looked down embarrassed at my feet as our group grew silent, "Okay so what were you about to say about those two?" Trisha asked and I looked up surprised that they all just accepted it so easily. Chris came up to me and ruffled my hair, "Honestly we've seen and heard much crazier stuff not to believe this. Plus it makes sense, since after you died they both disappeared." I looked up at him and smile, he does have a point.

I sighed as I continued, "I woke up a few days after the crying incident thanks to Warmy and Mahawa, even though nobody can see them now like always but somehow they kept their consciousness." "So do they know about-" "-the explosion? No, they find it weird as well, but aren't really questioning it and putting it off as a thankful miracle." Naruda nodded his head processing the new information. Reilla, Hailey, and Jack stared dumbfound at us and our conversation, not even sure if we were kidding or not. Though from the evidence they gathered, they realized that we weren't.

We all kept chatting on when I noticed how down Yuri looked. I crawled up to her and asked her why she looked so sullen, "There was this guy I met during the adventure, but now I can't find him anywhere. I'm kinda worried." I looked at her, sad that I couldn't really bring up any reassuring words to tell her, "You should've seen him! How he used his hands to manipulate snow magically and..." I trailed off at the word 'magic' and smiled which caused Yuri to look at me weirdly, "If he uses magic, then that means that he's another Imaginary Friend. Mega grants us the ability to see it's misfits but not magic powers, so he must be fine." Yuri brightened up at that, relieved.

My final memory of this encounter was all of us talking happily about everyday stuff, making me think about how nice it is to have friends as I closed my eyes feeling a nearby breeze blew by.

I opened my eyes as the car started moving, we were almost there and I was very excited about the school camping field trip. As soon as we reached the school, I rushed outside running towards the entrance, turning back only to thank my dad for the ride. The camping trip was a joint field trip for all sections for middle to high schoolers of MEIS, Resonantes, and Titan Academy schools. As soon as I entered the school grounds, I was greeted by Yuri and Akira, "You're late!" "Seriously Bell, any later and you might've missed the trip!" I nervously laughed as I rubbed the back of my head, panting from exhaustion. Turns out that Akira, the girl who accompanied Yuri on her Journey, was a student here as well. What a coincidence, but again, this school is quite famous in this region.

"Yo!" Chris yelled from behind me as I turned around. I smiled at the grinning Chris, forming a fist with my hand, hitting the top of his fist, him doing the same, then we fist bumped and finally clapped our hands together, intersecting our thumbs, forming a bird with both our hands. "You're still a bit sloppy, even after a whole year." Chris commented and I shrugged.

That was our group's secret handshake. After having gained our lives back, we one day, around three months later, joined up to form an official team with a title and all. I mean, it was a bit kid-ish of us, but after all we've been through together, we thought that it was appropriate. Obviously, Naruda became the leader. Polly seemed to have been thinking about this moment for so long because she immediately said that we should name our group 'Parody Fly~'. It was a weird name, but also unique and had a nice ring to it, so we all agreed.

After that we all planned on what our logo was going to be with Trisha drawing, since she was the best out of us. The end result was a blue phoenix bird with purple flames as its base, with three blue bell flowers hanging on a vine on top of its head. We were all pretty proud of our work. Chris even made up this 'secret' handshake of ours. Though we keep using it whenever we meet up, so I'm really starting to question its 'secrecy'.

Anyways, Reilla and Hailey then came up to us telling us that the teachers told us to line up as we were about to go inside the bus. 'I'm so excited for this!' I yelled in my mind as we went to stand in our respective class lines, each class going on a different bus. Suddenly my happy mood was crushed to pieces as I met face to face with Tabouk. I quickly hid my cherry blossom hair pin with my hands as to not let him steal it. My eyes flashed of fearful caution as his shown with hatred and scorn. Multiple disturbing memories came to mind about earlier this year as I shook my head to let me forget them. From the look in Tabouk's eyes, though, I could tell that I wasn't the only one who remembered that incident, both of us angry for different reasons.

Sadly though, seems that Lady Luck wasn't on my side this time as the teachers were the ones who assigned us to our bus seats, and I just happened to be the one to sit next to that psycho-sadist. I looked away to outside the window, removing my hair pin and clasping it in my hands, protecting it, as the bus started moving along. Seconds turned to minutes as Tabouk strangely didn't try anything weird or hurtful, so I took a sneak peek at him to see the most ferocious and scary look ever given to a human being on Tabouk's face. I honestly almost yelled from fright. Seems that unlike me, he was unsuccessful in forgetting the memory and now he is even too pissed to even do anything! For the remainder of the trip I was too afraid to even look at him or anywhere else, so I had to keep on staring at the sky.p, not that I was complaining. The sky today was a beautiful azure too.

 _"Hey you, WHAT IN THE *BLEEP*!"_

 _"Hey, hey, hey someone eavesdropped on us. What shall we do~?"_

 _"Kill 'em!"_

 _"What the *bleep*? My body' glowing?!"_

 _"Yuri! Akira! Catch!"_

A hand twitched beneath a large tree in the middle of the backyard of what seemed to be a small school. The unconscious body, surrounded by many people, started to slowly open his eyes. He blinked once then twice and even thrice, before he could fully open them only to see his surroundings in a blur. _"He's alive! Quickly! Call the paramedics!"_ The once unconscious body heard someone yell, just realizing that people were surrounding him. One of the younger ones approached him, _"Hey you, what are you doing here looking like a porcupine?"_ "Ugh, dumb headache in a dumb time. And you, shut it, idiot!" _"I didn't understand what you just said, but I know that you just insulted me!"_

 _"Uh _, that's the normal reaction when you bombard someone with questions right after they wake up, knucklehead."_ Someone else said which sounded like a girl this time, the name of the first person was muffled as the injured person was still a bit dizzy. After a few more seconds, his eyesight became clearer as he saw a blonde boy and pinkette fighting together, or more like the pinkette was insulting him and he was swooning over her.

Unconsciously, the person muttered, "Naruto?" But it was loud enough for him to hear, _"Huh? How do you know my name?"_ 'Impossible!' The person thought ignoring his question. His eyesight was now 20/20 clear as he looked over his surroundings. He was lying on a tree in the garden next to the entrance to what he knows as the Ninja Academy, and all around him, he was surrounded by the teachers and students of that academy.

The person grit his teeth, 'What sort of sh*tty joke is this?' He looked over the faces of every and each one of them and indeed they were the characters from Naruto except that they all didn't look animated but like really, and I mean, really good cosplays of themselves which was probably why the person was confused at first as to whom they were. 'Am I in some sort of dumb convention?!' He thought angrily. He tried to stand up only to find out that his whole body was numb and pierced by multiple small black needles, and yet even with that, he didn't care and forced himself to stand up. The teachers around him trying to stop him but he ignored them.

He then walked up to one of the teachers who he recognized as Master Iruka and glared up at him, "Give me your kunai." He ordered without one ounce of respect, _"What now-kunai?"_ Iruka said not understanding at all what he said. 'Ugh, right, these buffoons are ninjas so they speak Japanese. *Bleep*! Now let's see if I haven't forgotten it yet...' The person looked at his feet and then sighed as if he was dealing with a bunch of insolent kids which really only served in pissing everyone off even more. "Ok so, _I said: Give me your kunai."_ He repeated again only to see Master Iruka's flabbergasted face, _"Why would I do that?! Ninja knives aren't toys, understand? Plus, you need immediate medical attention!"_ The person looked bored at Master Iruka's scolding as he stole his kunai anyways and stabbed his arm hard with it.

Everyone looked shocked at him and before anyone could even say anything he muttered, _"Tch, the pain felt real, so this isn't some weird dream after all..."_ Master Iruka looked pissed, _"Just because you want to know whether you're dreaming or not, doesn't justify or give you the right to stab yourself! Isn't the pain from the needles enough proof?!"_ The person looked again bored at Master Iruka and threw back at him his kunai bloodied as he whispered to himself, "Sh*t, I said that in Japanese." He looked at his needle-filled body and started ripping them off without flinching even once, the other ninjas' and students' faces twisting in his place at how harshly he pulled them off.

The person, after pulling all the needles off, started climbing up the tree to get a better view of the place albeit the protests of the others and through the numbness of his body. Reaching the top, the person surveyed the place sharply with his eyes seeing a large mountain with faces, of who he knows as the Hokages of this village, carved in it. There were also multiple small houses and buildings as far as the eye can see until it stops at a wall where beyond it was an even vaster lush green forest. 'This looks way too extravagant to be a prank and too real to be fake or a convention,-' The person smirked as he descended the tree, '-which means that I'm in the real freakin' Konoha, Leaf village!'

He looked up at all the other ninjas and students, who were either looking at him worriedly, cautiously, or scared, a twisted dark smile on his face and a sinister look in his eye, making many students shudder. He covered his face with his hand as he slowly licked his lips, 'This is going to be fun~'

At that point, all who watched him knew and thought of the same thing which even the airhead Naruto had to agree on, 'This guy is dangerous!' And of course they would be thinking that, after all, we're talking about Tabouk Tenmore over here! After that, finally the paramedics team arrived and tended to Tabouk, who strangely didn't resist as he started to plan in his head about his next move.


	4. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: What it Means to be a Ninja?!**

 **Warning:- the story contain a lot of spoilers in the world of anime, stories and games.**

 **Here you go the meaning of some words that you need to know though I'll try my best to stick to English, however there are some words that sound too weird for me in their direct translations like Kunai and Juts and etc. so:**

 **Japanese people actually take politeness very seriously so you'll see a lot of them use honorifics after people's names, here are the main ones:**

 **No honorific (indicates familiarity or closeness but when used around someone you're not close with then it means you're rude)**

 **_-san (equivelant os Ms, Mrs, Mr etc, indicates politeness)**

 **_-chan (Used between girlfriends or couples or girls in general, indicates closeness)**

 **_-kun (Used mostly with guys but can be used with girls too. Indicates politeness or closeness depending on context)**

 **_-sama (Used when talking to kings and queens or rulers, etc. Used to show utmost respect)**

 **Other words:**

 **\- sensei= teacher.**

 **\- jutsu= ninja technique. there are three types of jutsu: ninjutu which is a normal ninja technique like the transformation and shadow clone jutsus, taijutsu which is related to phyical combat, genjutsu are jutsus that make illusions.**

Tabouk let out a long yawn as he stared lazily at his surroundings. They were currently having physical education and gosh was it nothing else other than boring. He huffed as he sweated in the heat of what was left of summer after their vacation, wearing a sleeveless white shirt and grey pants for PE. Everybody was staying at least a mile away from him so he had no fun tools to play with and the teacher went somewhere leaving them all to laze around even though this class was supposed to be a 'Physical Education' class. As boredom laced his eyes, he subconsciously caught Chris going to the restroom from the corner of his eyes, giving him a wicked idea on whom to play with next.

"A hope item you say?" Reilla exclaimed, "Not really, but I told you about it last time didn't I? Polly gave each of us one of these accessories when we were feeling down and almost immediately we all felt better. What's even better, now every single time I have this cherry blossom pin around with me, I don't feel scared or worried anymore!" Bell said, excitement and happiness coloring her words and face. 'Heh~ Now isn't this interesting~' Tabouk thought as a dark smirk made way into his lips as he slowly approached the group of girls.

"Cool! But don't ya think that it's just something your mind made up?" "Could be, but for some reason I don't believe that that's the case and- Hey give it back!" Bell yelled as Tabouk snatched away her pin, walking a few paces back to take it out of her reach. "Heh~ So this is a hope item eh? Wonder what would happen if I pluck out each petal one by one-" "Don't!" Bell yelled again jumping towards him trying to take her pin back but Tabouk simply dodged her as if he was dealing with a little kid. "-I wonder~ Will the world end when I do that? Or will it be you who will be crushed when I do so?" Tabouk smirked wider at that as Bell looked more panicked than ever.

"Tabouk stop it-" Before Yuri could even finish, a cracking sound resounded as Bell shook and looked dismayed at the pin in Tabouk's hand and a severed petal in his other hand, "Talk or meddle again ***** and I'll make sure to break this dumb sh*t even more." Tabouk said still smirking. Yuri clenched her fists, ready to punch him right in the face as soon as she gets a chance, "You sicko!" She grumbled as Tabouk shifted his attention to Yuri, happy by her insult, "Aw~ Stop, I'll blush if you continue~" As he got distracted, Bell took that chance to get a hold of him, "Got it!" Bell yelled holding onto Tabouk's hand which had the pin in it, "Aw~ You actually think that you caught me by surprise~ Think again!" Tabouk yelled as he kicked Bell hard directly onto her gut, making her let go of his hand and skid through the floor until she came to a stop when her back hit the basketball pole.

Bell started to cough and gag, saliva splattered out of her mouth as she clutched her stomach hard trying to ease the pain. Bell opened her left eye slowly, since her right one was hidden behind an eye patch, and glared as hard as she could at Tabouk, not that it fazed him in any way. She then looked at her worried friends' way and smiled weakly before turning her gaze back at Tabouk and her pin that he was holding.

Tabouk looked disinterestedly at her and then at the petal shard that he removed and threw it away which got Bell into a state of rage exactly like he wanted, "Why you-!" Bell screamed as she tried to stand up through her intense pain in her stomach. Bell stumbled quite a few times before she could stand up properly, and even that was still very hard; her friends still looked worriedly and anxious at her as well as her classmates. However, the only thing that Tabouk did was smirk even more at Bell's pained state, "Man you really are a laugh! Doing all this just for some stupid pin!" Bell gritted her teeth at that.

"For you it might actually be stupid, but for me it's not! You haven't seen what I've seen, felt what I felt, or went through what I did and how that pin means just all that and more, so GIVE IT BACK!" Bell yelled as she finally had enough strength to run towards him and her pin again. Tabouk lazily moved away from her reach as he whispered in her ear with a tone full of malice, "You're right, I don't know, and I don't care, little girly." Bell's eye widened in shock at how he got beside her so fast and covered her ear, jumping away quickly from his reach, which then served to make her waver from too much movement as her stomach hasn't healed yet.

Tabouk chuckled as he shook his head, dismay written all over his face, "Come on, you're still staggering because of _that_ injury? I didn't even hit you there all that hard~" He teased her as she gritted her teeth whilst her friends watched the scene in front of them with just as much anger.

"Oh come on, you keep on rambling about how I don't know what you've been through-" Bell grit her teeth even more, "-as if you've been through God knows what, like some dumb sh*tty tragic hero-" She started to bite her lip, "-but then you're still standing there, staggering just because of one little kick!-" She gripped her stomach even harder, "-you think you're all that, holding a dumb pin as some extraordinary trophie-" Bell closed her eyes as she shook, "-but really, you're nothing more but a pathetic little-" "ENOUGH!" Bell yelled as she glared at him, let go of her stomach and ran as fast as she could towards him, completely forgetting the pain for a moment as Tabouk stood there, a twisted content expression on his face as Bell did exactly what he wanted her to do.

Bell shifted her gaze towards her pin in his right hand and sprinted for it, stretching her own hand. Tabouk, noticing that, moved his hand closer so that it would be easier for her to catch it but Bell didn't notice that and as soon as her hand caught a bit of the first petal, Tabouk quickly pulled away his hand to make another resounding crack as another petal broke off. Bell's few moments of happiness were crushed as she looked shakily at the petal in her hand. However, Tabouk didn't let her off the hook with that as he grabbed her throat with his hand harshly, bumping her head hard on the floor before raising her up to the sky like nothing while she struggled to breath and free herself from his grasp.

"Bell!" Yuri yelled as Reilla covered her eyes not bearing to watch the scene in front of her while Akira grabbed onto Yuri's arm hard, not letting her do something stupid, using all of her mental fortitude to stop even herself from doing the same. Jack watched the open scene in front of him in disgust, not believing that _that_ thing was supposed to be a human being like them.

Tabouk ignored their gazes, his smirk never leaving his face, focusing his attention on the struggling Bell in his grasp. After a few more minutes, Bell stopped struggling though still grabbing onto his hand making Tabouk stop smirking and look at her questionably, "Why'd you stop? Ran out of batteries so soon~" He said smirking again, but Bell did nothing but bite her lip in frustration, "What did I, what did _we_ ever do to you? Leave us alone!" Bell yelled the last part making Tabouk raise his brows for a moment before pulling her closer to him, "You don't have to do anything, I just do what I do because I enjoy it~" He said simply making Bell's jaw quiver as she was about to give up-

"What in the world is going on in here?!"

Someone suddenly yelled serving Tabouk to look away for a second, Bell dispersed the dark cloud over her head as she heard the voice and then yelled as loud as she could in her tired state, "YOU GOD DAMNED SICKO!" Tabouk turned his head back at her again shocked as she kicked him as hard as she could on his jaw with her knee making his head snap backwards and loosen his grip for a second, but it wasn't enough to make him fall. So then Bell used him as a starting board as she put her feet on his chest and pushed him off, snatching away her pin as he let his guard down, flying away from him only to be caught by a pair of hands she knew so well.

"Woah! You a monkey or what?!" The voice asked as Bell chuckled bitterly, holding onto her pin shaking. Realizing that, the voice said, "Polly, look after Bell for a sec." "Okay." Polly said, holding onto Bell, as her friends came over worriedly. The voice, who had blazing orange hair and crystal blue eyes, looked over at Tabouk, who even after being kicked and pushed was still standing, with an unreadable expression. "Ouch, who knew that the ***** can actually pack a punch! Well kick, but whatever..." Tabouk said as he rubbed his jaw standing up straight again when he noticed the redheaded figure in front of him.

Tabouk looked at him from head to toe, trying to figure out who he was, "So who are you? The dumb sh*t's knight in shining armor or something?" The redhead scoffed at him as he ignored him, walking over to something. Tabouk felt irked about the fact that he was being ignored but continued to observe him, to see what he was going to do next. The redhead stopped in front of something that couldn't visibly be seen and then he crouched to pick it up, stood up again, wiped it clean with his shirt, and then threw it to Bell, who almost doesn't catch it. After looking at what it was, she smiled nodding as thanks.

The redhead smiled at her before turning back to Tabouk who looked bored from waiting for too long. "So are you going to answer or not?" Tabouk asked again only to be ignored again, much to his displease, "So you are the infamous Tabouk!" The redhead finally spoke surprising Tabouk a bit, "Wow, you talk! Thought that the cat got your tongue." The redhead smirked, "And since you know already, isn't it courteous of someone to introduce themselves first?" "What do you know of courtesy? But whatever, I guess that it's okay for you to know at least this much, I'm Naruda Renock, and that's my sister Polly." "I don't give a **** about your sister, I asked only about you." Naruda frowned at his usage of words but then scoffed at him again.

Tabouk frowned ticked, "What's so funny?" Naruda stopped chuckling and then looked at him, a mocking smile still on his face, "Nothing, it's just that you're exactly how I imagined you to be..." "Oh really? I'm flattered, and how's that?" Tabouk said smirking with same amount of mock in his tone. Naruda then turned serious making Tabouk curious, as he said, "You're nothing but an empty bin, filled with nothing but trash." Naruda said simply, his words making Tabouk's eyes widen slightly though barely visible.

At that, Naruda turned around, asking Yuri's help to carry Bell to the nurse's office. "Why are you here?" Bell asked, "We came to visit!" Polly enthusiastically said as Naruda added, "And don't worry, I know someone who can fix your pin." He smiled making Bell smile back, and with that, they continued on with their conversation, completely and utterly ignoring Tabouk.

Tabouk stood there, watching their backs clenching his fists as he started to ooze out a dark aura, but before he could do or say anything, Chris came out of the bathroom, wiping his hands on his pants with a content look on his face, "Hey guys! Did I miss anything?!" at that moment everyone looked at the poor guy as if they wanted to strangle him.

Tabouk slammed his fists onto the table, shocking everyone within the class including Master Iruka, "Hey! What's the big idea?!" Kiba yelled, irked because he woke him from his nap. However, Tabouk ignored him as he headed for the door, "Where do think you're going?" Master Iruka said with a reprimanding tone, "Restroom, or do you fancy me killing everyone in this class to cool off instead?" Master Iruka was shocked, but before he could even answer, Tabouk had already left. He leaned on the door gritting his teeth, 'Why did I remember that now?!' He thought as he angrily left towards the restroom.

The sound of water resounded through the seemingly empty washroom as Tabouk filled his palms with water and then splashed it on his face over and over again, trying to calm down a bit, but mostly forget what he just remembered. He looked at the mirror plainly as he ran his fingers through his hair, 'My hair is getting long...' which was true since his hair was now almost reaching his shoulders. He should probably cut it, but it's not getting in his way or anything so he just shrugged it off. As he was ready to leave, the door opened to reveal a pitch black haired guy in a blue top, known to him as Sasuke. Tabouk stared, more like glared, at the newcomer, and Sasuke realizing his presence, did the same. They stayed like that for a while until Tabouk broke it off as he smirked confidently and left the place, knowing full well that Sasuke was still staring at his back as he left.

Tabouk entered the classroom like nothing happened and realized that there was more noise than before, so he looked around to realize that Naruto was there on the floor tied up. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Master Iruka, who even though he was still angry at Tabouk for what he said back then, still answered his suspicions, "Naruto was caught again doing one of his misfits-" "-so now we're all forced to do a pop quiz on the transformation jutsu." Ino continue Master Iruka's sentence, avoiding eye contact with Tabouk.

"Hmm~" Tabouk hummed amused as he looked out of the window, and indeed the stone faces of the previous Hokages were filled with paint doodles. 'So this really is _that_ episode, hm' Tabouk hummed thoughtfully as he looked back at Master Iruka, "So it's my turn now?" "Yes, everybody else other than Naruto already did their turns." Master Iruka said as Tabouk smirked, "Heh~ I see~" He said sending a shiver run down the other student's spines. 'Let's if I remember this right...' Tabouk thought, his smirk still plastered on his face.

'First comes the dog hand sign, then the boar then the ram...' He made a few hands signs, focused his chakra and then in a puff of smoke, his appearance changed to that of Master Iruka. 'Chakra, the life force of every human being. In Naruto they usually control it in a certain way along with hand signs to do all sorts of crazy sh*t. Heh, if that were possible back in our world, life might have actually been a bit more interesting.' He thought in his mind as everyone got awed by the fact that he did a perfect transformation jutsu even though it has been only a bit more than a week since he enrolled.

As he undid his jutsu, more smoke surrounded him again, but before it could completely envelope him, he noticed a cherry blossom tree outside of the window.

Tabouk sat down angrily in his seat on the bus as they were about to go to the camping site, unluckily for Bell though, she was assigned to sit next to him. He noticed how she hid her pin away from him. He scoffed in his head for this, 'Does she really think that she can protect her dumb pin with that?!' Although he thought that, Tabouk was pretty angry so he wasn't really feeling up to doing anything. Ever since that incident at the beginning of the year, the two of them never really came up face to face again, and now that they did again, Tabouk started to remember what he wanted to forget.

The whole ride was packed with an intense threatening atmosphere that made Bell super uncomfortable. Tabouk, though being the one who caused it, was way too pissed to even mess her up to cool himself off, which just shows how angry he was. When the bus finally stopped, Bell rushed outside as if heaven was just outside that door, which it was, for her at least. Tabouk, though, stayed inside for a while longer with his eyes closed, before he finally decided to go out.

What he met outside was a vast, but not really thick, forest, though it was still not the like that you would expect to see in this desert that they live in. At the center was some sort of big inn where they were probably going to stay at, all around it was tents and other stuff. 'What's the point of this camping trip if you have a giant inn right behind you? They're totally nailing the feeling of being in the wilderness.' Tabouk thought sarcastically in his head before he caught Bell going somewhere from the corner of his eyes, 'Now where is _she_ going...?' He thought and then smirked when he got a devious idea as he started to follow her.

"Sh*t! I lost her!" Tabouk yelled as he searched around some bushes and trees, a lit bit deep and far from where the main campus was. His ears then twitched as he heard something. He cautiously looked sideways before slowly advancing forward. He wasn't a coward that's for sure, but that was his first time here, and who knows what lurks in here. As he got closer, he could make out the muffled sound of someone having their mouth covered, so he began to speed up, not because he was worried about the victim but because he was curious as to whom the perpetrator was.

After a few more minutes, he hid behind a tree quickly as he found a clearing, "Now now, don't struggle so much~ I promise that it will be quick and painless~" "You mean slow and painful right~" After that, he heard the two anonymous voices laugh as the sound of someone thrashing around resounded. 'Hm, how interesting~ I'm pretty sure that the one struggling is Bell, but who are the two others?' Tabouk wondered for a moment but then shrugged, 'It has nothing to do with me, so who cares!' He thought as he was about to turn around, he was quite disappointed that his little toy was confiscated from him but well Finders Keepers, and so he headed the opposite way from where he came from when he stepped on a fragile twig making it snap.

Tabouk twitched from its loud noise and cursed under his breath as he slowly turned around to make sure that the two anonymous figures haven't heard him. But just as he turned around, he was suddenly pierced by multiple black needles all over his body. Tabouk looked up at his attacker viciously, "Hey you, WHAT THE ****!" He yelled as the anonymous figure smirked, "Hey, hey, hey someone eavesdropped on us, what shall we do~?" "Kill 'em!" He heard the two voices say, but he was suddenly too tired to move an inch. After that, all he remembers was the figures approaching him, a glowing light came after that, and then someone yelled, and after that everything blacked out.

Tabouk's eyes twitched as they slowly opened up only to be met by wide black orbs, "Oh! You're finally awake! Come on! It's time for the team selections!" The owner of the voice said excitedly as she pulled onto his shirt. Tabouk blinked once, and then after getting his thoughts straight, snatched his arm away from her grasp, "Get the **** lost Shiko!" He yelled but the girl, now known as Shiko, remained unfazed as she continued to smile, waiting for him. Tabouk clicked his tongue as he groggily stood up from his lying position under the tree right outside of the Academy.

He looked, I mean glared, at Shiko again and then looked away standing up. She jumped up and down excitedly as she pointed at the Academy, "Come on! You're too slow! We'll miss it, you know?!" He really felt like yelling at her face, but he knew that he won't get the reaction he wants so he gave up on that idea and stretched.

Shiko was a girl in their class with ash black shoulder length black hair, blue hoodie, dark blue skirt and black shoes, wearing her shinobi headband on her forehead. She was a very optimistic and smiley person, who, even though most people by now learned to avoid him, she still sticks to him like glue. It's like the nerves responsible for her sense of fear are dead! And that is one of the rare few things that annoy the hell out of Tabouk. He could kill her, but that would mean having the whole village against him, as in equals pretty much to him being dead.

After finishing his stretching, he looked up to find that Shiko was still waiting for him patiently, 'Seriously, if she ends up being one of my teammates, I don't think I'll be able to hold back enough and end up killing this annoying nuisance!' He huffed as he went over to the Academy ahead of her while she just smiled and followed.

Tabouk looked up at the sky thoughtfully, 'That flashback...' He doesn't really remember what happened after he was stabbed with the needles but he was sure as hell of one thing, 'It's her fault, and once I find her, I'll make sure that she'll beg for her life to end.' A dark smirk made its way onto his lips as another devious plan appeared in his mind. Shiko looked worriedly at him but didn't show it as she kept on smiling and following him.

The door snapped open, and everyone jump in surprise as they looked over at the newcomer just in time to see the board's eraser drop on his head. Before anyone could exactly verify who the victim was to one of Naruto's infamous pranks, a kunai swished past and hit the wall across, less than a few millimeters from cutting off Naruto's throat. Naruto started to look pale for a second, "Hey! What's the big idea?!" He yelled angry, he couldn't even enjoy his little prank for a few seconds. Tabouk, now covered in chalk, glared at Naruto, "Next time, I won't miss..." "Why you-" "Also, before I forget, Congratulations on passing the exam dimwit." Tabouk said sarcastically as he headed up to his seat, ignoring Naruto's annoyed yells. But without anyone noticing, he spared a small single look at Naruto, staring intensely at the Leaf Village ninja headband resting proudly on his forehead...

Tabouk came out of the examination room yawning, bored when he suddenly smirked at the headband in his hand, 'Child's play~ That was easy.' He thought as he threw it up and down toying with it. He just passed the final exam and was now officially a genin, a lower rank ninja. He stopped playing with his headband when he noticed that the next examinee was Naruto. He smirked again. At the moment where both boys intersected paths, Tabouk slowly whispered in his ear, "Good luck, you'll need it..." His smirk widened as he disappeared in the crowd, leaving Naruto dumbfounded.

Tabouk could barely contain his excitement; he memorized the next scenes at heart and was eager to see it in real life with his own eyes. Tabouk's ears twitched as he heard a small explosion followed by a bit of a smokescreen, 'Eh, so this must be the part where he fails the exam because of the pathetic clone he made...' Tabouk chuckled darkly to himself as he turned around to see the work of art with his own eyes, but was shocked to see dozens of perfect Naruto clones spilling out of the exam room.

In fact, there were enough of them to crowd the whole building and not let a single person could move an inch! "WHAT THE ACTUAL ****!?" Tabouk yelled during the confusion, 'That dimwit wasn't supposed to learn this jutsu until later!' Tabouk thought not understanding at all what was happening. Later that day, Naruto finally dispersed his clones and when they asked him from where he learned this jutsu, he said that he heard about it from someone who heard about it from somebody else! Having no other explanation plus the fact that there was no reason for Naruto to lie, everyone had to believe the absurd explanation. And with that, Naruto passed the exam with flying colors. Yet the whole time, some weird feeling settled in Tabouk's gut, 'There must be something else into it...'

"You shouldn't have done that. While both of you are wearing the same headband, you're part of the same village, same team! You shouldn't fight!" Shiko said, snapping Tabouk out of his train of thought. He turned around to her gravely, his eyes void and his smirk taunting, "I know that dearie, that's why I didn't puncture his throat." He looked mockingly at her daring her to retort but instead she just continued to smiled and said, "I know, thought I'd say it just in case." Tabouk's smirk was wiped off his face as he went to his seat, huffed bored and looked away while Shiko took her seat beside him.

"Okay class, settle down and let's start with the team formations..." Master Iruka said as Tabouk looked on, bored, waiting for his name to appear. "On team 7 taught by Kakashi, are Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and finally Sasuke Uchiha-" "Wait a second! Why do I have to be on the same team as him!" "That's because we paired the worst student in the class, you Naruto, with the best, Sasuke." "But-" "No buts, if you have any problem with the formations then speak to Lord Hokage." After hearing that, Naruto had no choice but to concede, although very reluctantly while Sakura glared at him for causing a racket and Sasuke ignored them, not caring at all.

"Next on team 8 taught by Kurenai, are Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuga, and Shino Aburame." Kiba grinned while Hinata fidgeted shyly and Shino, well, was being Shino, still as a rock. "On team 10 taught by Azuma, are Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Choji Akimichi." "No! Why do I have to be on the same team as these two?!" "Why? Do you have a problem with us?" "Do you want a potato chips?" Ino while when Choji offered her some chips not fazed at all by her previous outburst as she slumped back into her seat.

Master Iruka sighed, tired of all the interruptions as he continued, "Then on in team 11 taught by Morakami, are Shiko Mokani,-" Shiko pouted as she muttered under her breath, "I wanted to be taught by Master Kakashi." Tabouk shifted his gaze to her for a second, questioning her statement, and then back at Master Iruka as he continued, "-Izu Manara, and Joey Riyoka." Shiko's eyes slightly twitched at the last name but no one noticed, well no one except for Tabouk, 'Ho ho, so even she has people she dislikes.' He thought as a sly smirk made its way into his lips.

"And that's all for today dism-" "Oi! Idiot-Iruka!" Tabouk called out shocking everyone by what he called their teacher, "If I want to, I can still confiscate your headband and make you repeat the school year, you know?" Master Iruka said threateningly but Tabouk just scoffed at him, "Yeah right whatever, you didn't put me in a team..." Master Iruka's eyes widened as he looked over the board he was holding, "Oh right, let's see...you're on team 11, got it? Then, class dismissed!" He said as the bell finally rang and everyone went to meet up with their respective team teachers.

Tabouk slumped back a bit on his seat, 'Oh sh*t, I'm on that smiley freak's team. Oh well, sooner or later, she will be the one to regret their decision and not me...' He smirked standing up, but as he was about to walk away, Shiko grabbed a hold of his arm again, "Wait! Where are you going? We have to meet up with Master Morakami and the others!" She cried and Tabouk rolled his eyes. Honestly, he was planning on skipping the whole boring meeting thing but since it wasn't likely that Shiko would leave him alone anytime soon and he _still_ can't kill her, so he had no choice but to go to the dumb meeting.

Tabouk trudged slowly towards the park where they were supposed to meet up in when Shiko suddenly called out, "Ah! I forgot my pouch in the classroom! Please go on without me, I'll catch up with you later. Oh, and don't even think about ditching, I'll follow you to the ends of the world and drag you back! See ya!" She said as she left off in a hurry while leaving Tabouk behind. He sighed as he went on his way, not because of Shiko's warning, but because he just realized he doesn't recognize his teammates and teacher's names, 'Hmm, I've got to research this whole situation more.'

"I came back~!" Shiko yelled as she reached the park where they were supposed to meet up. There sitting on the sidewalk, bored, was Tabouk, beside him glaring suspiciously was a dark haired boy wearing a black and white uniform. Next to him was a hyper redhead, walking all over the place with a black eye patch over his right eye. "You're late!" Shiko flinched as she turned over to the source of the voice. It was a tall lean man with messy green hair, he was obviously their instructor, "Sorry, I forgot my pouch in the classroom." Shiko said bowing as the frown on Master Morakami's face turned to a smile, "It's fine, just don't do it again. Now take a seat."

As team 11 sat down expectedly on the sidewalk, Master Morakami started introducing himself, "Ok then, I'm Morakami Shioru, I'll be your instructor obviously and that's pretty much all you need to know. Well, I'm not really good with this kind of stuff so don't expect too much. Anyways, introduce yourselves." Tabouk laughed off silently about how idiotic looking their instructor is arrogantly while Shiko and Izu openly laughed at him. However, Joey stood there with his brows raised suspiciously at their teacher.

"Come on, if none of you will start then I'll choose in your stead...hm, how about you, the redheaded dude whose laughing off." "Eh me?" "Yes you." Master Morakami said and the redhead had no choice but to obey, "Ahem! Okay then, my name is Izu Manara. I was born in the sand village. I love spicy stuff and hate sweet things. My future goal is to beat a certain someone that I lost to in the past. That's all, thank you." Izu finished bowing down with an exact angle of 90 degrees before sitting back down high fiving Shiko.

"Glad to see you so enthusiastic about this. Okay then next is the dark haired dude who can't seem to know how to laugh." Izu and Shiko chuckled at that while Tabouk looked bored as the dark haired guy sighed standing up, "My name is Joey Riyoka. Everything else does not concern you, though I'll tell you that my future goal is to find somebody that I absolutely can't forgive. That's it." Joey said simply before sitting down. 'Great, we have another Sasuke...' Tabouk thought annoyed as the others looked at Joey confused as to who that person is.

"Well then, next is you Shiko." Master Morakami said nervously trying to lift the heavy atmosphere Joey created. "Okay then~ My name is Shiko Mokani from the Mokani clan a bit east of here-" Upon hearing that name, Joey's eyes widened as he looked at Shiko with an unreadable expression. 'Those two definitely have some weird connection.' "-I love sweet things and hate soury and bitter stuff. I don't have a particular goal for the future, but in the meantime, I wish to help out the Leaf Village as one of its shinobis as much as possible. And that's everything!" Shiko said cheerfully before sitting back down.

Master Morakami smiled at that, happy to see that he has at least to positive fellows on his team, and then turned towards Tabouk, ushering him to present himself. However, Tabouk just grinned with his eyes closed, mocking him, a gesture saying he wouldn't do as he was told. Master Morakami scratched his head, "We've got a stubborn one here..." He nervously said and then clapped his hands, startling the other team members before saying, "Okay, now that the introductions are done, let's get down to business, shall we?" At that, the four genins present unconsciously stood upright and listened closely to what he was about to say next.

"You guys know the jonin known as Kakashi Hatake, right? He's a very harsh instructor, and even though I'm not the same as him, hanging out around him for so long seemed to have rubbed some of his ways on me,-" "So?" Tabouk interrupted, bored of the long prologue, "-so here's what we're going to do: a test." The genins seemed shocked to hear that, "But we just finished the finale examination the other day." Izu whined and Master Morakami chuckled at that, "I know, but didn't you notice that it was way too easy-" 'Well he does have a point...' "So here I am going to give you another mini test. If you were being taught by Kakashi, then failing this mini test would make you repeat the school year."

The genins', well except for Tabouk, eyes widened, "EEEHHHHH?!" "Hahaha, don't worry, I'm not exactly like him, remember?" Shiko, Izu and even Joey sighed in relief, "I'm just going to use this mini test to evaluate your strong and weak points so that I can help you out better in the future. However, that does not mean that you should take this lightly. If you do, or score too badly in this, I'll seriously make you repeat the year, understand?"The genins felt a chill run down their spines as they slowly nodded their heads, Tabouk all the way looking as bored as ever.

Master Morakmi smiled much to the young ninjas relief, as he said, "Okay, now to explain the rules of this mini test: You should simply imagine that I'm some sort of terrorist here to spy or attack the Leaf Village, and you have to catch me by dawn or else. Also, tapping or slightly touching me won't do, you have to pin me down for a whole minute, got it?" Shiko and the others thought for a minute before nodding their heads. "Okay then~ Bye-bye." And with that, Master Morakami disappeared in a flash leaving his pupils dumbfound, "W-wait, that's cheating!"

Tabouk stood up, laughing at Izu's comment, "You think that terrorists will wait for you till you get ready? If you did, then you're pretty dumb." Izu felt pretty irked at his comment but let it slide when they heard Shiko's voice, "Hey guys, there's a paper over here where Master Morakami stood!" After hearing that, they all stood in a circle, looking down on the piece of paper:

 _[ I almost forgot! The one who catches me first gets to be the second in command during missions and stuff! Morakami~ ]_

Without second thought and right after looking at the letter, Tabouk took off, 'As if I'll let one of these idiots boss me around as well. Plus, sounds pretty fun to take the lead for once.' He thought as he left his teammates behind grinning. "And he left..." Shiko stated as she looked at what was left of his after image, "So what do we do now?" Izu asked, "Don't ask me." Joey simply said before disappearing as well. Izu looked at Shiko, "Do you too want to be leader?" "Nah not really, you?" "Nope..." Silence befell them until Izu spoke again, "But this way it wouldn't be fun. Let's make it a challenge and find out who can find him first! Not for the leader title but for fun!" Shiko's eyes lit up, "Yes!" They laughed like idiots together before they fist bumped and left in pursuit of Master Morakami as well.

Hidden in a bush, a few meters away, were two certain adult jonins, "Humph, so I'm supposed to be harsh. Don't make me laugh Morakami, you're worse than me." A grey haired man said as the green haired smirked, "Well it's still your fault that I ended up this way, Kakashi." Master Kakashi shook his hand as he went on reading his book. "So how are your new pupils?" Master Morakami broke the silence.

The bells tied to Kakashi's side jingled, "Terrible, I've got a guy who knows nothing of teamwork, another one that acts before thinking, and a girl who thinks about nothing but the first guy. You?" Morakami chuckled, "Well not that bad, I think. I've got a hyper duo, a girl and a boy, a silent kid who doesn't seem to like interacting with others and finally that weird new kid who's rude and arrogant." Silence whisked past them.

"Well, I got to go. Staying in one place for too long is bad." Master Kakashi said as he stood up, "Sure, see you then. I'll treat you to some ramen noodles later." Kakashi thanked him and then left. A few moments passed where Master Morakami did nothing but enjoy the slight breeze, when he finally stood up, stretched and disappeared again.

"Ugh, where is he!" Izu yelled in frustration as he jumped from building to building, peeking through windows and keyholes, seeing stuff he wishes to forget, trespassing territories to search their bushes and stuff, and basically doing other dumb stuff. Shiko just walked slowly through the village, taking everything in with her eyes, searching every nook and cranny for any evidence that might point out towards Master Morakami's location. Joey searched the perimeter of the park where they held their meeting and all the surrounding areas on a 50 meter radius around it. While finally Tabouk sat atop the fourth Hoakge's head on the mountain, surveying the whole village for any signs of Master Morakami.

"Hey!" Tabouk turned his head slightly around to see Shiko who was being followed by Izu and then Joey. "What do you guys want?" Tabouk asked harshly, not even trying to be polite. "Well, we discussed it and thought-" "That Morakami wrote that letter only to make us fight between each other so that we won't work together to catch him? Took you long enough to realize." Shiko and the others were left speechless, "Y-yeah...but if you knew-" "Why didn't I tell you? Because I didn't want to work together with you buffoons." He interrupted her again smirking while Shiko looked dumbfounded at him and the other two irritated by his actions.

Shiko shook her head trying to clear her mind, "Anyways, we need to make a more concise plan or else we will never catch him and so fail, so..." Shiko trailed off as Tabouk kept on looking intensely at the horizon. Joey then finally snapped at him and yelled, "Are you even listening to us?!" "Shush!" "What did you-" Before Joey could continue, Shiko put her hand in his mouth as she put her other hand's index finger in her mouth indicating him to stay silent, pointing to the two boys to look at Tabouk and wait.

Tabouk's eyes trailed quickly from one house and building to the other, never resting, blinking only once in a while; his expression was unreadable but he was obviously looking for something, thinking hard. He put his left hand over his mouth, in a manner of thought as he squinted his eyes, closed them for a moment, and then opened them again, standing up abruptly surprising the other three.

He looked at them from the corner of his eyes as he dusted himself off, "Do any of you know how to make effective traps?" The trio looked at each other for a moment and then Izu raised his hand slowly, and with that Tabouk grinned widely, a dangerous gleam in his eyes, making the other three gulp. "This is bad Master Morakami, this test is just like hide-and-seek, and believe me, I never lose at this game. Come on guys, let's catch us a terrorist~" He said as he jumped off the statue, the other three following him almost reluctantly.

Master Morakami walked on, whistling merrily. He was a bit deep inside a forest not too far from their initial meeting place. The blue sky started to turn into a reddish hue. As he walked on he suddenly noticed something gleaming from the corner of his eyes and jumped just in time to avoid multiple kunais thrown his way, "Took them long enough." He mumbled as he easily dodged the ninja stars thrown at him, "But I must say their movements are pretty sloppy..." He said dodging more of them as he jumped away from a wire right beneath his feet. "Oof that was close, I'm not sure what that would've triggered but one can never be too careful."

"GOT YOU!" Master Morakami snapped his head upward where he was met by Izu and Joey holding a big net, dropping it off on him, though right before he could cut it or take it off, Shiko performed multiply hands signs as she breathed out ice that froze the net in place. Joey and Izu, too, in turn did their own hand signs and aimed whatever attack they were preparing at Master Morakami. He was stuck on three sides, no four, as he looked up only to find Tabouk sitting on a branch holding a bunch of ninja weapons ready to be thrown down on him, "Sensei~ I really think that you should give up now~" He said smirking just as whatever was left of the sun disappear.

Master Morakami grinned, "Don't get too cocky kids." And with that he disappeared in a puff of smoke, "He disappeared?!" "No! That was a shadow clone!" Shiko yelled when the quartet heard clapping behind them, as they turned around, they saw the real Master Morakami, "Congratulations kids, that really caught me off guard. I'm really happy that I actually made a clone of myself, hahaha." Team 11 looked at their instructor panting, not feeling as if they accomplished anything at all. "Don't feel bad guys, I'm higher ranked than you, so of course I wouldn't be trapped so easily, but you really did a good job, you really should be proud of yourselves!"

At his words, three of the quartets cheered up and started feeling pretty happy, "Does that mean..." "Yes! You pass with flying colors!" "Yatta!" The three of them yelled and cheered as Tabouk relaxed on the tree branch. Shiko suddenly stopped cheering and looked up at Tabouk, "But wait, how did you know where to find Master Morakami?" The other two stopped their cheering as well and looked at Tabouk for answers, but all he did was look towards Master Morakami and smirk.

Master Morakami looked pretty nervous as he chuckled, 'That guy...he couldn't have possibly decoded the signs I left behind right? I left those marks over the village mostly because I was bored but I never expected him to find them and figure out what they meant! I didn't have a student like that in a while. I have to admit, he truly is some genius.' He closed his eyes and nodded towards Tabouk, approving of him, and then turned towards the others.

"As you have already realized, the whole 'second in command' thing was just to distract you from working together as a team, so there will be none of that. However, if I ever cannot accompany you during a mission or training session or something, I'll either ask for someone I know to supervise you or appoint one of you as a temporary leader depending on the situation, am I clear?" "Yes!" "Good, you're all dismissed for today and see you tomorrow." And with that Master Morakami disappeared somewhere again.

Tabouk descended from the tree as the other three cleaned up their mess. 'Today was way more tiring than I thought, at first sight, our teacher seemed to be a dimwit, but he was pretty good. It took me longer than I thought to find all the hints and marks and decode them.' Tabouk thought when a sly grin appeared on his face, 'How interesting.' "Ah, wait!" Tabouk turned around to face Shiko, "I just wanted to say: Thanks! We were able to pass this test thanks to you."

He looked her over as she finished with an unreadable expression and then turned back to leave, "Ah, um, see you tomorrow!" Tabouk scoffed at that, his back still facing her, "You'll be considered lucky if you don't see me tomorrow." "Hey! Can't you simply say yes once in a while?!" Joey yelled as Tabouk faced them one last time with a mocking smile, "No~" He simply said walking away. Shiko smiled her usual smile, "Then it's settled, see you tomorrow at the same park as yesterday...Zen!" Tabouk flinched slightly at the mention of that name, though he didn't stop walking, 'Sh*t, I still can't get used to this name...'

Tabouk opened his eyes slowly to find himself in a completely white room, 'Huh? Wasn't my room's wallpaper turquoise?' He blinked a few times to get rid of any sleepiness he had before he started to stand up. Doing that, he realized just how sore he was, but he didn't care as he removed the covers from over him, now noticing that he wore a white hospital gown and was covered with bandages from head to toe, 'Oh right, these were caused by those accursed black needles, wait where did they come from? Ah, I forgot.' He thought as he looked with plain eyes at himself before deciding to stand up despite how numb he felt.

Walking slowly, he finally reached the window where he saw a sight he thought he had forgotten, 'Oh right, this is...' "Hey! Master Iruka the weird guy woke up!" "Naruto, you aren't supposed to call people things like that..." Tabouk slowly turned to the source of the voices and saw a tall man with brown hair and a scar across his nose alongside a shorter blonde boy with weird cat-like markings on either of his cheeks. He smirk again, 'That's right, I'm in the Naruto world as weird as it is. I forgot that those guys here don't look animated but like real people.'

"Master Iruka, he has that weird grin on his face again." "Naruto, what did I just tell you...Oh you're awake?" "That's what I just said!" As they continued their bickering, Tabouk moved on towards the closet and opened it, revealing a neatly tied scarf along with spare clothes. Tabouk narrowed his eyes, _"Hey, where are my other clothes?"_ He asked and the duo looked at him weirdly, "Hey Master Iruka, what is he saying?" "I don't know, must be some other language from wherever he came from." Tabouk face palmed, 'Dimwits.' " _I said_ , where the **** are my clothes?!" He repeated and Master Iruka looked disapprovingly at him, "Don't use that language with me, and most of your clothes were torn, so wear those spares for now until your original clothes get sewn back together again."

Tabouk rolled his eyes and took his top off, realizing that they were still there, he glared at them. Discovering what he was doing the duo left in a hurry with Naruto mumbling, "What a freak..." But that served to do nothing but make Tabouk smirk even more. After changing into a black top and shorts with a green sleeveless jacket over the top with his scarf wrapped tightly around his neck, Tabouk came out only to be met by Master Iruka and Naruto waiting patiently. He raised an eyebrow at them and Master Iruka smiled leading the way while Naruto followed behind and him as well reluctantly.

"I don't know who you are, but I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the guy who will become Hokage! Believe it!" Tabouk scoffed and rolled his eyes, irritating Naruto. For the rest of the day, Master Iruka kept on showing him around the Leaf village while Naruto kept on yelling random stuff on his ears. 'Hm, so they're trying to make me feel welcome before asking me questions? How typical...' As he thought that Master Iruka stopped walking, "Okay, so that's most of it, if you need any more help then don't be afraid to ask, understand? That's it for now, I'll come pick you up tomorrow at-"

"Hey?" "Yes?" Master Iruka felt pretty irked for being interrupted but let it slide, "Can I register in the Ninja Academy?" Tabouk asked bored but there was a gleam in his eyes showing that he was planning something. "Um, yeah sure. I'll see to it. Come Naruto, okay then, see you tomorrow." Master Iruka said before leaving, behind them Tabouk stood still, a devious grin on his face. 'Well then, let's see if I could find a comfortable tree to sleep on...'

"Okay class, settle down. We have a new student today, come in-" The door opened and in came Tabouk glaring dangerously at the class while taking in his new surroundings. "Hey isn't that?" "He's the one from the other day!" "Man, why are they letting someone so scary like that enter in?!" "He'd totally be my type if he didn't look like he could kill me immediately~" "Gosh, why is he glaring like that?!" The class kept on whispering in between themselves while Tabouk just stood there bored.

"Okay class, quiet down, this here is, um, I don't believe you told us your name..." The class erupted in laughter at that as Master Iruka embarrassingly scratched the back of his head. Even Tabouk had to admit that that was dumb. In the end he sighed as he was about to introduce himself, "My name is Ta-" "Ta?" The class chorused curiously, 'After some thought, it might be better to keep my identity a secret.' He closed his eyes for a second and then opened them again smirking his signature dark grin, "My name is Zen, Zen Rio Tabaki."

"Target is turning Corner B! Izu he's coming your way!" "Roger!" Izu jumped out from behind his hiding spot in a bush and made a weird face, frightening whatever was coming his way, "Target is moving towards your direction, Shiko. Just as planned!" "Roger and thanks." Shiko said as she came out from behind a corner and using her ice jutsu, made the floor slippery making the target slip and skid across the floor. "Zen! It's coming your way! Catch him!" Zen yawned bored when the Target was about to run away while he was distracted but Zen simply glared at him and he sat back, still as a rock and even peed on the floor from fear.

"Aw, you shouldn't have frightened the poor pup like that Zen!" Zen rolled his eyes as Shiko lift the puppy from the ground, hugging it tightly as it snuggled on her chest frightened. Izu and Joey later on caught up with them, "Mission successful, we caught Milord!" Izu said excited as he threw his fist to the sky, Joey and Shiko joining him while Zen just stared at them as if they were a bunch of idiots. "Great job guys, mission complete. Now send that pup to his rightful owner, and after reporting to Lord Hokage, I have an important announcement." Master Morakami's words caught the young ninja's interest, so they quickly went to do what they had to do and went to meet up in the usual place, the park near the forest.

As they reached the park, they waited for a few minutes for Master Morakami to arrive and as soon as he did, Shiko and Izu stood up, excited to hear the news. "Okay now, sit down. As you all know, we've been a team and doing all these minor missions for a few months now. SO let me ask you: Do you want to do higher level missions?" Zen perked up at that, he knew where this was going. The other three looked at each other shocked by the news and then yelled in unison, "Do you even need to ask!"

Master Morakami chuckled at their enthusiasm. "Okay, okay chill. Now hear this: The chunin exams are coming up in a week!" The young ninja's eyes widened and gleamed with glee as Zen's smirk widened, 'Heeh~ Sh*t's about to get real then. The chunin exams means for ninjas to go up another rank. Most ninja's are chunins and by being one, you get many priveliges like being able to lead your own squad or team and going to higher level missions and other stuff. But...' The thing that the citizens of the Leaf Village did not know is that during the finals of chunin exams, a large terrorist attack from another village was to take place, and Zen was sure as hell not going to tell them and miss the whole thing! Plus who would even believe him?

"Now, now, settle down. As you know the chunin exams are an international event, so there will be contestants from different villages participating too." The quartets' excitement was rising as Master Morakami was getting a bit nervous, "Now here's the thing: To enter, you have to be in groups of three and you guys are four so..." Shiko and the others realized what he meant and they weren't happy. They all wanted to participate so bad, but one of them had to drop out this year. Master Morakami suddenly perked up at the single hand that was raised up in the sky, "What? Zen, you'll drop out?!"

Everyone snapped their attention towards Zen, he was really the last person on their minds to actually drop out from something like this. 'As fun as it would be to participate, I know my own limitations and if by Lady Luck's blessing I end up fighting against someone like Gaara of the sand, I'll surely die, no questions asked. Although...' "On one condition though, I want to be able to watch the chunin exams." Master Morakami and his other teammates looked dumbfounded at him; they haven't really expected this at all. "Uh sure I guess, I mean it's only fair since you can't participate. I'll go and ask Lord Hokage. Also before I go, go to where this flier shows and register, okay? Then see you!" And with that their teacher left.

"Thanks Zen, thanks to you the three of us can participate." Shiko said but he simply ignored her and snatched the map from her grasp, leading the way, "I just know that this guy is planning something!" He heard Joey mumble from behind before they sprinted towards their destination. After a few minutes, they arrived to the building where they would register. "Pfft, it's a boring old building; I was expecting something much grander!" Izu whined while the two others chuckled at his behavior. Zen threw the map in the garbage can as he entered the building along with the others.

"Finally done!" "So now we can participate in the chunin exams right?" Shiko then Izu asked while Joey nodded stretching. "Hey Shiko, over here!" Someone called out and the quartet turned around to see that it was Sakura with her teammates, "Did you guys come here to register as well?" "Yup~!" As the girls chatted the guys too started to talk about their past adventures and missions, even Joey and Sasuke were socializing, as surprising as it might seem.

Although Zen just leaned back on a nearby wall when his eyes caught sight of flowing brown hair and his eyes widened slightly, but before he could say anything, Naruto yelled, "Ahh! Hiyoran, you're here too?!" The said girl, Hiyoran, ignored him and went on in her way. "Hey Hiyoran! HIYORAN!" Naruto yelled even louder and the girl flinched turning around, "You talking to me? Oooh, you ARE talking to me!" She said giggling embarrassed as she walked over to where Naruto and the others were.

"Guys, this is Hiyoran, my friend! She also tends to forget what her name is a lot!" Naruto exclaimed while his teammates and team 11 looked at her like she was the dumbest thing they ever saw in their entire life, 'What type of idiotic person forgets their own name!?' And with that Hiyoran joined the conversation as well, as Zen stared intensely at Hiyoran's back. She was wearing a white Chinese looking t-shirt and pants with red linings and flowers. She uses her headband to tie her hair up in a side ponytail. 'Don't tell me...'

"Oi! Hiyoran, where did you go?!" "Damn, that girl gets lost faster than any pet in those damn missions!" Two voices yelled interrupting the young ninja's conversation, "Ah, those are my teammates!" "Who?" "Ramco and Marco Ronomero! They're twins, and also very funny! Sorry, Naruto, guys, I have to go!" "Don't worry about it! See you in the chunin exams!" "Yes!" And with that she disappeared in the crowd. "Well we too have to leave to train. It was nice seeing you again!" "Yeah!" "See you!" And with that, they all dispersed to begin their vigorous training for the coming chunin exams!

"Woah! So many people!" Izu yelled as they entered the hall containing all of the examinees participating in the exam. The week passed pretty quickly, some even doubted that it existed at all, as they looked around at all of the new faces. "We will have to fight against all of them?" Ino said worriedly, "Yeah and maybe we will get special treatment even thanks to Naruto's dumb outburst!" Kiba said frowning while looking down at a beaten up Naruto lying on the ground. A few minutes ago, he actually yelled at all of the examinees saying that he wasn't afraid of them and will beat them all up or something between those lines, Zen shook his head, 'How does Sasuke and Sakura put up with that thing as a teammate?' He thought sighing as he observed each and every examinee trying to figure out what their abilities could be based on their appearance, build and manner of talk.

"Hey guys!" Someone yelled from within the crowd and then Hiyoran emerged followed by two identical guys one with black hair and brown eyes while the other had brown hair and seemingly black eyes. "These two are my teammates: The black haired one is Marco and the brown haired one is Ramco!" "Hey!" "Yo!" They greeted simultaneously. Naruto scrunched up his nose as he stared at the twins until he was hit in the head by Sakura for being all weird, "Woah, they really are alike!" Naruto said shocked rubbing his head where he was hit, "Of course you idiot! That's why they're called twins!" Sakura yelled face palming as the group started to laugh at his antics as well as the twins. The twins then started showing them a bit of their twincy moves trying to lift up the heavy atmosphere caused by the exam as everyone laughed again. As they continued to talk, Zen continued to watch from the sidelines, after all he was nothing but a spectator from the very beginning.

He watched silently as well when Kabuto joined their little group and told them a little about some of their strongest adversaries' strengths and origin, 'What a liar, though it's still impressive seeing his acting skills in real life.' Zen thought before he was interrupted by a loud, "Wa'cha doing Zen?!" Izu asked trying to start a conversation with the unapproachable man. Zen took a sideways glance at him and then continued his observation.

Irritated at being ignored, Izu kept on nagging him over and over again asking him the same question until Zen finally gave in and said, "I'm observing the contestants to figure out their strengths and weaknesses. For example that guy over there looks kind of gruff, he obviously went through a lot of physical training so fighting him on a one on one fist fight probably won't end in your favor. He's also heavily armed, and his pockets seem full, so he's a weapon expert. Jutsu wise, since he's from the village hidden in the mist, he's probable good with ninjutsu that initiate trickery or stuff like that and from the look on his face, I can tell that he likes it but is also quite dumb so you don't have to worry about him when it comes to a battle of wits. While that other guy, he's sort of lean so he looks like he could have a high stat in agility, from the way his eyes are moving and his calm aura, it's obvious that he's more of a thinking type who won't initiate something unless he's sure that it would succeed. He also doesn't seem very trustworthy and would probably feed his teammates to the dogs if that would mean that he won't get embarrassed or something. The other guy over there..."

Zen trailed off as he noticed all of the astonished expressions of his former classmates and teammates, even Kabuto and Hiyoran couldn't exactly hide their amazement, "Well, I'd say, you're not bad! May I know who you are?" Zen looked at Kabuto smirking, "The name's Zen, and what I said was but obvious information you can get in one look." Kabuto smiled at that, "Wow, aren't you modest-" "No, you guys are just dumb sh*ts." At that, Naruto and most of the other guys were right about ready to strangle him if the bell, signaling that the first part of the exam was going to start, didn't ring.

The guys, and even girls except for Shiko, glared at Zen as they took out their attention from him to put it into that of the first exam proctor who just entered the room, which was a tall gruff man filled with scars, his ninja head band hiding his head. 'Wow, never thought that Ibiki Morino could actually look more intimidating in real life than he already was. This will definitely be something interesting to watch.' He thought smirking although unbeknownst to him, someone was silently watching him, knowing exactly what he had in store for the challenges to come.

"Hey, are you Zen Rio Tabaki?" Zen looked up at the gruff first examiner, still full of scars. "Hmph, I don't know what the Hokage is thinking by letting you watch but whatever, listen here: since you aren't participating you aren't allowed to say a single word or signal anyone, let alone breathe! You're only here to watch, got it? If you were caught doing anything suspicious enough, you'll be kicked out along with whoever was even a little bit related to whatever you were doing, understand?" He said and Zen smirked, "Sure~ sure~ I'm not THAT terrible of a guy, am I?" Ibiki quirked a small smile before leaving, "Then I'll take that as a yes." And with that, the first exam started.

The first exam was basically a written test about what they learned in the academy and such, and that was Naruto's worst Nightmare, they also have an hour to finish it and every single member of the three man team has to be able to finish the exam to pass or else they fail and have to try again next year. The same thing will happen if even one of them was caught cheating, and there are multiple higher rank ninja all around the classroom to make sure to catch even the slightest attempt to cheat! And with that the exam started, as well as Naruto's longest hell hour.

Zen smirked as he sat near Ibiki. To make sure that he won't signal anyone, they made Zen sit beside the strictest ninja in the room, though Zen really didn't mind at all. He then stared intensely at the seemingly normal test session. 'Heh, come on, we're ninjas, it's obvious that if they tell us not to cheat then it means that they're rooting for us to cheat instead. This exam is all about trying to see how we'd be able to work under pressure and if we can share information without being caught or sacrificing our teammates. Though Naruto and other dumb sh*ts are probably too idiotic to realize that and are now grinding their heads to answer the exam seriously.' Zen's smirk widened as Ibiki cautiously looked at him, 'This guy, according to the reports about him, he mysteriously appeared in front of the academy badly injured and is almost rivaling the Uchiha kid in terms of academics and physical combat and even initiating jutsus. So why did he drop out of this exam? That kid just bodes of danger.'

Zen kept on observing the class and their colorful ways of cheating. Tenten, another examinee, used hidden mirrors to see the answers of other students and send them to her teammate Rock Lee, while their third teammate, Neji Hyuga, used his Byakugan to see the answers, which was a special jutsu that runs in the bloodline of his clan, which can see things from miles away and even through object. 'The all seeing eye, huh? I'm pretty excited to see him use that in a fight.'

The sand siblings, Gaara, Kankuro and Temari, from the village hidden in the sand also had their own creative cheating methods. Gaara used some weird sand jutsu to create an eyeball which he used to cheat. While Kankuro faked going to the bathroom so that he could right the exam answers in a paper and hand them to Temari discreetly on his way back. Shino, from team 8, used his bugs, yeah he uses bugs to fight and can also communicate with them, to look into other peoples' test papers and cheat for him. Kiba used his hyper dog-like senses to figure out what the others wrote on their tests depending on the sounds they made on paper, while Hinata used her Byakugan as well.

Zen chuckled a bit but with an inaudible sound as he witnessed all of the secret cheating methods. The only reason why he could see them do it, was because he already knew what they were going to do, plus some of them were pretty obvious compared to others so even if he didn't know them then he would have been able to figure it out. Zen looked up again at the students just in time to see Ino do her clan's special jutsu on Sakura, which enables her to possess someone while her body becomes unconscious. With this ability she studied all of Sakura's answers, because she's smart, and then using the same jutsu, send them to her teammates as well by possessing them. Sasuke was copying the answers from others using his Sharingan eye, another special jutsu passed on by bloodline in his clan, while Naruto frantically tried to find a way to answer the goddamn sheet from hell.

Zen smirked at that and then perked when he remembered something-, "Examinee number 307 is out along with number 306 and 308!" One of the higher ranked ninjas yelled as three examinees stood up angrily cursing with one of them even crying! 'Heh, that's the eleventh team already and we still haven't hit the halfway mark, which reminds me, I wonder how my supposed teammates are faring...' Zen thought as he searched with his eyes for his teammates.

As soon as he caught sight of Shiko, he smirked, 'That girl, might not be the studious goody two shoes that I thought her to be...' he thought as he saw her cheating manner. What she did was basically use the others' cheating facilities to her advantage and she did it so calmly and without batting an eyelash that it almost seemed impossible to accuse her of cheating. Her method was pretty smart because she wasn't the one using the mirrors or bugs to cheat but the others so if she made a mistake then the one using that certain cheating facility would be the one to fail and not her which would then enable her team to have less competition to deal with. Joey was closing his eyes and Zen noticed how his ears were twitching slightly, 'Hmm, so he's using a similar cheating method as that Inuzuka guy. Cheating with sound...'

Zen looked barely impressed as he started to look for Izu only to be disappointed to see him with the same look on his face as Naruto, 'Idiots...' He thought as he face-palmed, when he caught sight of brown hair from the corner of his eyes, 'It's that Hiyoran girl...' Hiyoran was, was...he actually for once wasn't sure what she was doing. She totally didn't pass him off as the genius type that Sakura is, so she must be cheating one way or another. And that's when he saw it, something gleaming in the light, it was a very thin wire and it was connected to her fingers, he wasn't sure how but he was a hundred percent sure that Hiyoran was using that to cheat her and her teammates. 'Hmph, turns out that she wasn't that boring of a girl after all...'

"Okay then, we've reached the final five minutes. I'm sure that you've all seen the last and tenth question and that you're not supposed to answer it until the last few minutes, right? Well then that question is going to decide everything, so before I ask it, let me tell you a few new rules about it: If you don't answer this question then you and your teammates fail without question, and if you answer it but incorrectly then you'll be stuck as a genin forever, got it?! So if anyone wants to pass this out then this is your last chance..." Most of the remainder of examinees looked pretty nervous at that, a few even protested saying that it was an impossible choice like Kiba, though Ibiki remained unthawed, "Well just consider yourself unlucky since I'm one of this year's examiners." 'Heh, no wonder that this guy is a pro interrogator and torturer, he sure knows his way around peoples' minds.' Zen thought when suddenly many hands perked up ready to drop out, 'Pathetic cowards...'

Zen looked at Sakura and Sasuke, they both knew that this was too much for Naruto and the looks on their faces were accepting if ever Naruto decided to drop out of it. He then looked at Izu who had a strange look of determination, 'Strange, I thought he'd be at least a bit nervous about this...' "Anybody else? This is that last time I'm asking this!" Naruto nervously raised up his hand and Sakura and Sasuke's expressions was a mixture of shock and acceptance, when Naruto suddenly slammed it down on the table surprising everybody present, "Don't underestimate me! I will not run! I'll take it! Even if I'm a genin forever! I'll will myself to become Hokage, so I don't care! I am not afraid!" He yelled out, Zen blocking his ears all the way, shocking all other genins present with his act. Shiko giggled, the looks on Sasuke's and Sakura's faces were of that that said 'Typical Naruto...' Hinata who was sitting beside him smiled happy for him, while Hiyoran put her hands in her mouth trying not to burst out laughing.

"I'll ask you again. Your life is riding on this decision, this is your last chance to quit." Ibiki said unfazed again with Naruto's outburst, "I follow my unbending words...That's my Ninja way..." Ibiki quirked a small smile at that, 'Interesting kid, he blasted away everyone's worries. Hm, 87 left...more than I expected. It seems that stretching this any longer won't make any difference.' Ibiki smirked a bit wider and so did Zen, knowing full well how this would end, "Good descisions, now to everyone still remaining, I congratulate you on passing the first test!" "Huh?!"

"Man~ I really didn't expect the exam to end that way!" Shiko said stretching as they moved on to the next examination site, "Yeah, who'd thought that It would be a written test, and that you didn't even need to answer anything and you'll pass!" Izu exclaimed as Joey nodded, "Yeah, though as easy as it sounds, it still made most of the examinees leave packing." Zen followed them silently closely behind, "Still, it was spot on, the first nine questions to see our ability to gather intelligence and the tenth question, the take it or not, to see if we have the guts to fight through all odds!" Shiko said cheerily, summarizing the first test.

"It still is pretty crazy what happened to our first examiner. His head was covered with even more scars and screw holes! He must've been tortured pretty bad! I'll never make fun of knowledge ever again!" And on they went with their talk. Their second examiner, Anko, was a very hyper and energetic woman saying that their second exam was to survive going through The Forest of Death once Training Area No.44.

"Okay then, don't expect my test to be as easy as Morino's, okay. Each team will be given a scroll, either that of Heaven or Earth, by no means under any circumstances should you read any of the two before reaching the finish line, or else a terrible thing shall be fall you. To reach the end line, you have to go through this forest and all that's within it , though even before that, you have to take position of the second type of scroll before you go to the final line; you have one week, got it?! If so, get your scrolls and get in there!" As soon as she finished, every team went in line to get a scroll, "Ah right!" Everyone stopped dead in their tracks, "You, yes you, Zen was it, you're nothing but a spectator, right? Sorry but I can't let you go through, because it's too dangerous and you might help your teammates in secret. So you'll come with us, 'kay?" Zen shrugged, he expected that much. Sadly, he won't be able to watch the live fight between team 7 and Orochimaru.

Realizing that it had nothing to do with them, the other teams went on with their business. "Wish us luck, Zen!" Shiko said excitedly, "Okay, break a leg." He said smirking darkly, by that phrase he didn't mean to wish them good luck but to actually and literally break a leg or two! Shiko waved goodbye to Zen and dragged Joey and Izu away before they could strangle him. "Okay, come along boy." Anko said dragging him off, but from the corner of his eyes, he could see Orochimaru disguised as one of the examinees, Shiore. He smirked even wider, 'Orochimaru is one of the Legendary Sanin but then he went rogue due to his inhuman experiments on immortality and is now trying to destroy the Leaf Village by using the Village hidden in the sand. Heh, and so now, the second test begins...'

Zen entered a wide room with one big screen surround by other smaller ones in the middle. The room had a couch and desk but other than that it was relatively empty. "Beautiful room isn't it?" Anko asked him sarcastically while he rolled his eyes, "You may sit over there..." She said pointing towards a couch, having no other option; Zen did as he was told. As soon as he sat down, a weird disturbing feeling settled into his gut, giving off a sense of forebode as if something bad was going to happen during the exam, something other than the terrorist attack.

Zen took in a deep breath and then exhaled slowly, 'This is getting way too exciting to bear, I can't wait for this week to end. This would be also around the time where the Hokage realizes that Orochimaru infiltrated the place, but can't cancel the exams due to how deep in them we are already.' He thought to himself as he chuckled lowly and darkly earning a subtle side look from Anko.

"Zeeen~" Zen made a side step just in time for Shiko to fall face first into the ground when trying to hug him, "How mean~ Where's our welcome back?" "Did you break a leg?" Shiko shook her head, "Then you're getting none." 'As if I'd say such a dumb thing even if you broke every single bone in your body!' Shiko laughed off Zen's insult while Izu laughed along with Joey glaring at Zen, "If you weren't kind enough to let us register into the chunin exams, I'd have already given you a hard sock in the face." "Oh really~ Why don't you try?" Zen said darkly smirking while Joey glared back, just about ready to accept the challenge when he was hit in the head by none other than Master Morakami, "What are you guys doing, the third test is about to start?"

"Master Morakami?! Where did you come from?!" Joey and Shiko chorused without Zen, because he well already knew from where if that's any of a surprise. Master Morakami chuckled as he pointed at Izu who opened both scrolls. The poor looks on Joey's and Shiko's faces could make anyone cry, "IZUUUU! HOW COULD YOU?! AND WE WERE SO CLOSE TO ACTUALLY PASS!" "Sorry, curiosity got the better of me, plus we already reached the finish line!" Izu said innocently, you could actually almost see the white fluffy innocent bunny ears popping out of his head while Shiko and Joey had that of hungry black wolves that are ready to kill.

However before the duo could attack the sweet little bunny, Master Morakami held both of them back, "Don't worry, don't worry, you guys already passed with flying colors!" The two wolves turned into puppies as they looked at Master Morakami with teary eyes, "Really?" "Uh-huh, so don't go off killing your teammate, okay?" The two puppies, and bunny, sniffed as they pounced on their teacher, "We love you!" They yelled as Master Morakami patted their backs, "Okay then, let's go to the hall and wait for the last few teams, ok?" "Yes!" All this time, Zen was watching the dramatical show from the sidelines, contemplating the fact that he is indeed a part of this idiotic group.

"Okay then congratulations to all the *cough* teams that passed. The previous test was to measure your *cough* capability to deliver an important package even through *cough* tough adversaries and without letting your curiosity *cough* get the better of you..." 'What terrible health...' Most of the passing students thought at the same time nervously as the third examiner, Hayate explained in front of them, in the middle of a big hall, all around it was single high up stand for spectators, with a big statue of two hands doing the Ram hand sign, far off in front of them stuck on a wall.

"Okay then, I'll now *cough* explain what's about to happen. Since there were more of you than we *cough* anticipated then we will have to divide this test into two parts. *cough* Both exams will be one on one fights with names picked randomly and shown in this large screen above-" Many examinees at hearing that, perked up happily as they've waited for something like that to happen. "-Okay then, the loser will be the one who *cough* gives up first or is no longer able to fight, and so with that *cough* if you think that you're no longer able to fight, then please *cough* give in now while you still have the chance *cough*"

The hall was quiet until a single hand perked up, "What?! Kabuto?! But you were just fine!" Naruto yelled as Kabuto chuckled, "I thought so too, but it seems my injury from the previous fight was much graver than I thought, sorry." Kabuto said leaving as Naruto looked depressed and unsatisfied. "Well then, *cough* anybody else? None, then please take your places up in the *cough* stands as we select the first pair of names."

And with that, everyone along with their teachers made their way to the stairs, Shiko skipping happily along the way, "Hey,hey you know? Most of our classmates made it to this stage! Although Hiyoran's team doesn't look so good, see?" She said pointing at the brunette as the others looked where she was pointing, even Zen, and definitely, her team did seem quite shaky. For one, Hiyoran looked sort of down and holding her upper right arm, while the twins kept a distance away and glared back at her. "Weird, they seemed to be getting along very well in the beginning..." Zen looked away, seeming no longer interested, but he still kept a single eye on the lookout for them.

After that, the first part of the third test of the chunin exams finally began! The first pair of names that appeared on the screen were that of Sasuke and someone named Yoroi who was on Kabuto's team. It was pretty much an easy win for the young Uchiha when using his infamous Sharingan, maybe even too much of an easy win as Zen frowned looking hard at Sasuke and the beaten up Yoroi, 'Wasn't he supposed to not be able to use his Sharingan thanks to the heaven seal curse on his shoulder given to him by Orochimaru on his previous fight with him during the second test? Then why is he using it so indifferently? Did something change...' He thought on as he unconsciously looked at the teacher of a team from the village hidden in the sound, which was actually Orochimaru in disguise.

Orochimaru caught on to the fact of him being watched and looked at Zen, though he didn't look away, instead he looked on for a bit longer before rolling his eyes and shaking his head, 'There's no way, even Orochimaru doesn't look surprised by that fact. What happened in The Forest of Death?' "..en...n...ZEN!" Zen snapped out of his train of thoughts as he looked at Izu, "You're missing the whole second fight, look!" He said pointing at the fight happening below between Shino and the Zaku guy from Orochimaru's team and thus making Zen even more shocked.

'Wait, wasn't Zaku supposed to have his arms broken by Sasuke? Why do they look fine?' Zen brushed his hair back with his hand, confusion lacing his face when his eyes suddenly slightly widened, 'Could it be...' Zen began to smirk; the situation was getting more interesting by the minute. In the end, Shino still won even though this time both of Zaku's arms were okay this time. Zaku's jutsu allows him to build up chakra in his arms and then shoot them forcefully from tubes in his hands, while Shino had the ability to manipulate bugs to his will or more like the bugs were helping him because they had something in return which was the fact that they could nest inside Shino's body and feed on his chakra, this was a special skill of the Aburame clan.

Whether be in the actual story or right now, Shino still won using the same method, which was to block the tubes in Zaku's hands with bugs, causing the buildup chakra in his arms to explode and so render him unconscious. Shino was and still is way out of Zaku's league. As Zen kept on contemplating what just happened in the past two fights, the third set of names showed up in the screen which was that of Kankuro of the sand and Misumi of Kabuto's team. Same thing as before, the results didn't really change from what happened in the story.

Misumi used a jutsu that enabled him to become like elastic and so wrapped himself around Kankuro quickly saying that he'd break his neck if he doesn't give up, but then it turns out that the Kankuro he was holding was nothing but a doll and the real Kankuro was disguised, wrapped in white bandages behind the doll's back. Using threads made of chakra, Kankuro manipulated the doll and got it to crush Misumi's bones, securing his victory. Zen yawned bored, nothing new was happening. He thought that after the first two fights more exciting things would happen but he was quite disappointed at how wrong he was. Well, at least, that was before he read the next two names that showed up on the screen: Shiko Mokani vs Kokugin Ryutai.

Well now, that was a new name, 'Kokugin as in Black Silver, who's that?!' "Okay Kokugin! Go there and break a leg! But not literally..." Zen turned to the source of the voice to see a tall jonin with flaming red hair, which reminded him of someone, hitting another kid on the back who had middle length black hair and eyes who let off an aura that was all about not being good with interacting with people. "What are you looking at Zen? Oh, that's Master Sinichi's team! Anyways, are you not going to wish me luck?" Zen turned around, annoyed, at Shiko. Getting the message, Shiko left off with a smile on her face. "Okay then you three, I'd like you to watch this match closely, got it?" Master Morakami said earning Zen's interest.

As soon as Hayate signaled the fight to begin, Shiko yelled, "Wait a second!" Causing everyone in the arena to look at her, "Kokugin was it? Would you like a piece of candy? See its not poisonous or anything!" She said cheerfully as she popped a round light blue thing onto her mouth, and stretched her hand offering one to Kokugin who looked at her dumbfounded and then nervously took one and ate it. Everyone at the moment was so, so speechless and irritated by what just happened that no one could even muster the strength to yell at any of the two. "Now can we fight?" Kokugin asked as Shiko slyly smiled, "Oh, but didn't you hear? The fight has already started..." At that Kokugin was about to jump out of the way when he suddenly felt very heavy and cold, looking down, he saw himself in horror turning into solid ice.

Shiko walked away leisurely and happily, exhaling slowly to show everyone a stream of icy breath coming out of her mouth. She then turned around to face him and sat down on the floor comfortably, "You see, what you just swallowed wasn't candy but a ball formed from my concentrated chakra. You know, my clan is special in which where your ninja jutsus and abilities depend on the season you were born in. I was born in winter, so my chakra is as cold as ice and I'm the only one, along with other people in my clan born in the winter season, who's able to tolerate it. If I ate the chakra ball then I have the ability to release icy breath from my mouth while if someone else eats it, they turn into solid statues of ice from the cold and they die of suffocation within fifteen minutes. You're pretty naïve Kokugin, that's bad, you shouldn't eat candy from your enemy, and that's why you're~going~to~lose~right~now~~~" She finished with a wink.

Kokugin looked worriedly at his body which was slowly turning into ice and then at his worried teammates, he then looked at his teacher who nodded his way to which Kokugin regretfully said, "I give up..." "Wise choice~!" Shiko said as she marched on his way, performing multiple hand signs and then placing her palms in front of him. After that the ice slowly decomposed and went into her hands, turning into a ball again after which Kokugin collapsed from exhaustion. Hayate blinked, "Ah yes, *cough* the winner of this match is Shiko Mokani!" "Yay~" Shiko yelled as she skipped back towards her team, looking back once to her foe, "Don't feel bad okay? I sort of used a dirty trick myself." Kokugin, hearing those words, felt nothing but ashamed as he went back to his team.

"Man, you're pretty dangerous yourself, huh." Izu said astonished as Shiko smiled at him, "Aw, don't say that, I'll start to blush~" And with that the hyper duo continued acting like the couple of idiots they are. Zen scoffed, that was a pretty weird and interesting fight at the same time. "Oh sh*t!" "What's wrong Joey?" Shiko asked at her teammate's outburst. To which he answered her by pointing at the screen, "I feel sorry for that girl..." Joey continued as everyone looked at the next pair of fighters: Hiyoran Berumi vs Marco Ronomero.

Zen looked at the said girl who gripped her arm tighter and gulped the lump in her throat down as she slowly went down the stairs, Marco passing her and bumping onto her purposely along the way. The two teammates looked at each other, one fiercely and the other tiredly, as Hayate announced the beginning of the fifth fight. Marco moved quickly as soon as the signal was given as he ran as fast as he could towards Hiyoran who was panting heavily already, and punched her directly in the face and then kicked her into the wall. Naruto looked alert and angry as he gripped into the metal bars tightly, "What's wrong with you, Hiyo?" He said worriedly at his friend's weird actions.

Sakura too looked sort of pained, "Was it because of what happened back in The Forest of Death? She looks so pained and tired as if all the fighting spirit in her has been extinguished..." Those words caught Master Kakashi's interest, "What _did_ happen in The Forest of Death?" He asked to which his team looked down at their feet not willing to speak. Master Kakashi, understanding the gist of it, let it slide and focused even more than before on the fight.

Hiyoran barely stood up, still panting heavily maybe even more so now, as she gripped her arm looking at Marco, "What's wrong? Why are you giving me that look? Did you expect me to hold back because we're teammates? Well tough chance, but hey, you could actually hope to beat me if you show everyone here your other side that you showed us in The Forest of Death, no? Answer me!" He yelled as he ran again towards Hiyoran, this time a kunai in hand. But before he could, Hiyoran suddenly let out a hurtful yelp as she clutched her heart making Marco hesitate for a moment, which was all that was needed for the next events to take place.

Hiyoran collapsed on floor, and rolled around the floor clutching her chest, trying to ease a pain that the others couldn't get. Master Shinzu, Hiyoran's and the twins' instructor, was right about ready to jump in when black bars spurted out from the ground and trapped him along with the other jonins and examinees. Even the examiner, Hayate was trapped, along with all other means of escape. Hiyoran by now, was trying her best not to yell in pain as she clutched her chest harder. Marco, all signs of hostility from him completely gone, had no idea what to do as he watched his teammate suffer. "Ma..r...co..." Marco flinched as he looked at her, genuinely worried, "..." "What?" Marco questioned at her whisper, "I said...RUN!" She yelled surprising Marco and everybody else, but it was far too late by then.

Everyone, teachers and students, were frozen in place at the sequence of events that took place afterwards. Everyone stared wide eyed as blood gushed out in streams out of Marco's stomach as it fell on the ground rapidly forming a deep scarlet puddle. A giant black blade sticking out of Marco's back, belonging to none other than Hiyoran, or the one controlling her at least, who had a hysteric smile glued to her face which half of it was filled with black markings.

"What in the- Who are you?! Stop this at once or else harsher measures shall be taken against you!" Hayate, the first to recover from the shock, yelled out. Hiyoran slowly turned around to look at him, not smiling anymore as she threw away Marco's body aside, _"Ohoho, please don't do that to this poor little girl, it's not her fault that I'm securing her body currently, you see?"_ Hayate and the others looked confusedly at Hiyoran, if it even really was her. _"You, you speak English?!"_ Zen said shocked beyond words to which upon hearing that, Hiyoran turned around and smiled, _"Of course I do! I come from your world after all!"_ Zen suddenly frowned and was about to say something when _, "Although I really have no idea how I got here! All I know is that me and my buddies were bullying this young lady here, and then poof! The devil knows where this is!"_

Zen cursed earning the person's interest, " _Oh! Were you hoping that I knew a way back? Why so?"_ The person smirked. Zen grit his teeth as the others looked at him, "You understand what he's saying!" Naruto yelled out while Zen ignored him glaring at whoever it is really under Hiyoran's face.

 _*CLANK* *CRASH*_

Zen irritated, looked at the other ninjas whom were doing so much noise, trying to break the black bars as Hiyoran smirked wider in amusement. "It's pointless~ These bars won't break so easily~ At least not with such techniques~ Hm~ You have an interesting expression~" She said as she curiously looked up at one of the jonins in the stands who wasn't helping in the efforts of breaking the bars at all, and to top it off, he was smirking a bit. He had white spiky hair with sharp eyes and seemed to let off a cool aura. Hiyoran frowned, displeased at being ignored but before she could shrug it off he said, "I'm smiling because I can already see you losing this match for underestimating my students." Hiyoran glowered and looked away gripping her fists, when she noticed Marco's hand twitching on the ground, making her smirk come back.

"Oh really then~ Let's see how they could possible beat me when they're already DEAD!" She yelled as she prepared her bladed hand again and swung it down towards Marco's limp body. His twin, and the other examinees watching and yelling in horror, while the albino jonin, Master Shinzu, did nothing but watch calmly as the blade stopped an inch away from stabbing Marco again, confusing Hiyoran. Master Shinzu smiled content, closing his eyes, confusing the others even more. Hiyoran grits her teeth and tries to push her bladed arm further in, it shakes, showing that she's really doing an effort, but it won't budge an inch. She clicks her tongue.

 _"She's still goddamn resisting..."_ She mutters under her breath as she stands upright again only to find a kunai pointed at her throat by none other than herself! "What's happening?! I don't get it! Hey Master Kakashi! Tell me what's going on here!" Naruto yelled about as Sakura and Sasuke shushed him, both trying to comprehend what's happening. Shiko planted her face on the black bars, trying to see as much of the fight as she could, Izu behind her with Joey standing aside nervously with Master Morakami, Zen, standing beside the two idiots, his expression darkening further with each second. "This basically means Naruto, that your friend Hiyoran there, is still resisting whatever it is that's possessing her..." "And what's that?!" Naruto yelled again worried, but Master Kakashi stayed silent as he too didn't exactly know what it was.

Hiyoran's frown turned into an amused smiled as she chuckled, "Hey girly, don't tell me that you forgot that us shadows can't be hurt with normal weapons, eh?"

"Then why do you sound so nervous?"

Everyone stared in shock at the sudden voice. The left side of Hiyoran's face, which was filled with black markings, had its eye wide in shock while her right clean side had a cool gaze in its eye and staring at the other eye. The first half frowning while the second was smiling confidently. Her left hand holding the kunai to her throat while the left one, after turning back into a hand from its bladed form, was holding the first hand back. The possessed side laughed, "Whatever do you mean girly?" The other side chuckled and replied to the first side's question,

"Haha, aren't you funny. Normally, yes, this weapon would not have even the slightest effect on you but currently, we both share the same body, so whether you like it or not, when I stab myself with this kunai, you'll be hurt as well."

"Don't be ridiculous girly, isn't that a bit too much of a gamble?"

"Yes, yes it is, but if it means getting rid of you, I wouldn't mind taking it."

"You're bluffing!"

The shadow yelled as Hiyoran's hands moved against his will and aimed for the heart. "You're not going to do it!" He yelled again, "Hiyo-" Naruto stopped midway through his yell as he saw the serene expression on Hiyoran's face and clutched his hands. Her hands stopped shaking as she got better control over her hands, gripping the kunai tightly. Master Shinzu kept his eyes closed as he breathed evenly; Ramco on the other hand was scared out of his mind for what was going to happen, "Aren't you going to do anything?" Master Kurenai yelled at him but he simply ignored her muttering, "And what can I possibly do in this situation?" At that sadly, Master Kurenai couldn't possibly retort. It was true after all, they couldn't do a single thing.

Strangely enough, the sand siblings and Orochimaru's team did nothing but watch interestedly from the sidelines. Hiyoran smiled confidently as she quickly plunged the kunai into her, holding up everyones' breaths. Sakura covered her eyes with her hands, "It's okay Sakura, you can see now..." Weirdly enough it was Shiko who reassured Sakura as she smiled down at the scene under them.

Blood trickled down Hiyoran's mouth, although it wasn't a vibrant red but a murky black, and she was smirking victoriously as she looked at the weird black blob in front of her which then took the appearance of a person's silhouette and then finally, much to Hiyoran's shock, took in and appeared in full colors like a real person. He, the shadow, stood up and dusted himself off, holding onto his side. His bloody red eyes pierced her soft brown ones as he pushed back his hair, of equal shade to that of his eyes, out of the way. He wore a pitch black uniform that gleamed in the light. There were a few black splotches trickling down his cheek that he licked off, a black bat shaped microphone floating around him. And then he smiled, "Hello there~ My name is Mao Louk..."

Hiyoran was beyond shocked as she held onto her bleeding side. At the last moment she changed trajectory and stabbed her side instead of her heart, securing her life and getting rid of what was possessing her at the same time. The markings on her face disappeared and she regained complete control over her body. Everyone in the stands still held their breath as to what was about to happen next when Hiyoran smiled, "Coming out of a woman's mouth, how disturbing." Mao did nothing but smirk at that.

"I knew you were bluffing-" "And yet, you still got out. But let me correct you, I wasn't bluffing, I was really ready to end my life if you didn't show any signs of getting out." "Brave girl~ Oh and please don't let my 'colors' bother you, you see, this is how we really look like. Those black silhouettes from one year ago were but our incomplete forms from breathing in your dirty atmosphere." Hiyoran looked bewildered at him, "Heh, I can understand why you'd be confused, after all aren't shadows supposed to be nothing but human silhouettes? Sadly, that's all you need to know for NOW!"

Mao yelled the last part as he suddenly appeared in front of Hiyoran, "Wha-" though before she could continue, she was punched in her gut and then on her chest and then over and over again in different parts of her body until she was about to collapse when he kicked her in the face, sending her straight through a wall. "HIYORAN!" Naruto yelled out as most of the other examinees and jonins looked alarmed, Shiko though, instead looked at Zen who seemed eerily calm. Hiyoran coughed and gagged as black mixed with red blood oozed out of her side. She stared at it intensely almost as if in a trance, "Hm~ You dead already~?" Mao said as he poked her with his finger.

Suddenly, Hiyoran grabbed his arm and pulled him towards her stabbing his shoulder with her strangely inflamed kunai. Mao cursed in pain as he harshly pulled out his hand from her grasp, slapping her off, jumping back a few steps holding out his shoulder. He then slowly looked down at his side which was still bleeding. He clicked his tongue and then perked up at the sight of Hiyoran standing up. Her flaming kunai in hand, cooled off by now to leave behind radiant golden light emanating from the ninja knife. "A glowing weapon? How?" It was Hiyoran's turn to smirk, "Hi~mi~tsu~ It's a secret! Although, I bet you can see them...you too could see my _friends_..." Mao's eyes widened and then he let out a tired laugh, "You're an interesting one alright, sadly, I have to kill or else this-" he clutched his chest, the area of his heart, " _-this_ will never be satisfied!" He finished, a hysteric look back on his face.

Hiyoran sighed as she raised her hand to her face, touching her right eyeball with her finger, taking out an eye contact to reveal a silver white eye. The examinees looked interestedly at it while Ramco and Master Shinzu perked up, a slight hint of a smile on their faces. Mao moved his head to one side curiously, "What are you going to do with that?" Hiyoran gave him a closed eye smile and then sprinted towards him full speed, with her glowing kunai in hand. Mao took a step back and leaned out in a defensive pose as he whispered something in an inaudible voice that caused his Bat Mic. to turn into a sword which he used to defend against Hiyoran's blows.

Hiyoran then took a step back and clutched her hand into a fist, aiming for his face which he blocked and caught using his free hand to switch into a kick to the side. Leaning back, Hiyoran evaded that, taking her hand off of his hold, she then readied herself to throw a kick of her own which he dodged by jumping back. Being too far away for physical attacks, she threw three kunais his way, or were they? "Hey, hey now, don't tell me you're already exhausted, the fight has just begun and yet your attacks are already totally off!" Mao yelled grinning, this time out of disappointment since he was really enjoying the fight. Though Hiyoran's smile never left her face, "You're absolutely right! The really has just begun..."

At that, Mao quickly turned around just in time to see the three kunais bouncing off in different directions as they made contact with different objects and fly right his way, stabbing his lower and upper back and left leg. Faintly he could see barely visible wires attached to the kunais and tied to Hiyoran's fingers. "What the bloody heck?!" Hiyoran kept on smiling, "You refused to tell me as to why you're so _colorful_ when you're a shadow so I'm sad to say that I can't really explain to you anything on how I did that either..." She said as she lunged herself at him again, her attacks now much more accurate or maybe Mao thought so due to his many injuries. Thankfully though, those three kunais weren't glowing weapons, so his wounds would start to heal as soon as he takes the kunais off, but he sadly had no time for that while evading and blocking Hiyoran's attacks.

"Have you gotten more accurate girly, or is it just me?" Hiyoran continued to smile as she bombarded him with attacks when Mao suddenly grinned mischievously throwing Hiyoran slightly off beat, "However, you've gotten much slower TOO!" He yelled as he punched her hard in the gut, making her skid slightly across the floor, barely holding her balance. Mao waved off his hand to loosen it up, "I'm not sure exactly why your attacks suddenly became better-ngh!" He said as he forcefully removed the kunais from his leg and back, "But I do know that it's somehow related to that right eye of yours girly. How do I know? Well, you see, it's obvious that you're straining it in some way when it starts bleeding like that!" He said pointing at her bleeding right eye.

As Hiyoran stood upright again, she closed the lid on her silver white eye, her smile almost disappearing completely, "You got me..." She said chuckling nervously, holding out her bleeding side, entering in and out of consciousness. "Losing too much blood, aren't we, girly?" Mao said, approaching Hiyoran slowly. Swinging his Bat Sword around, readying himself to deal the final blow. "Oi you redheaded freak! Don't you dare march one step further! Hey!" Mao chuckled shrugged off Naruto's cries. "Do you know how they say goodby in English? I do, but it's just not that suiting for this moment, don't you think? So let me say it in Italian if I may: _Arrivederci_ ~"

And so he said ready to plunge his sword onto her head when he was suddenly immobilized. Looking back he saw a bloody kid with black hair and brown eyes, "You-" "Marco!" Ramco yelled, tears of joy in his eyes at seeing his twin well, at least well enough to move around. "Now Hiyo!" Marco yelled as Hiyoran smiled wider, grabbing tightly onto her glowing kunai and stabbed it hard onto Mao's left eye causing him to shriek in pain as he moved frantically around trying to remove both Marco and Hiyoran off him. When he finally succeeded, he grasped onto his eye tightly trying to ease the pain in any way as black blood poured out from in between his fingers.

Hiyoran fell on her back from the force of being pushed away to which then Marco helped her up after landing on his feet somehow with difficulty due to his injuries. Mao cursed out loud several times and then looked at Hiyoran with scornful eyes, laughing like a maniac, "Ha! You think you won?! Yeah right! But hear me, even if you don't die due to these injuries you received or thanks to us, then rest assured, because you'll still die from a lack of us! You hear me, girly? Mark my words, got it?!" He finally yelled as he vanished in a cloud of black smoke, leaving nothing but a puddle of black blood behind, proving to everyone present that he really did exist.

Hiyoran shook as Marco held her tightly; both frightened, an eerie silence filled the room as Hiyoran soon started to fall into unconsciousness scaring Marco, "Wait, you're not going to die right? I still have to apolo-" Hiyoran chuckled, handing him the glowing kunai as she softly said, "Since he's gone, the bars must have gotten a bit weaker. Use this to break them if you still can't using your jutsus. And don't worry, I'm not going to..die...I'm not...ever..going..to...see..those expressions...from..th...em..ever..ag...ain..." She barely mumbled the last part before completely losig her consciousness.

Hiyoran woke up, finding herself in a white room, 'Ah! I must be in the infirmary near the hall where the fights took place.' She thought as she stood up hardly, noticing that her side and right eye were bandaged although she still had her clothes on. Hardly, she stood up and limped towards the door, out of the room, into a long hallway that finally lead to a large hall filled with the remaining examinees and jonins as the names 'Naruto Uzumaki vs Kiba Inuzuka' appeared on a big screen, 'I missed Ino vs Sakura's fight and Tenten vs Temari...' She thought as someone yelled, "Hiyoran! Are you feeling better now?" She turned around to look at Naruto as she smiled and nodded, collapsing on the floor, realizing how barely she was holding her own weight. Honestly, she was surprised that she survived what happened at all!

"But seriously, your fight was so cool! It was like-" Naruto stopped midway as he felt a shiver run down his spine. As he looked back, he saw Zen releasing a terrifyingly dark aura all around him as he glared at her. The rest of the jonins and examinees were watching close behind. Hiyoran looked at him for a second and then back at her feet, shifting nervously. She then took out a cherry blossom hairpin from her pocket and stared at it, gripping it tightly, feeling a bit better.

"What do I do now Naruda?" She mumbled to herself, sounding like she could cry, nobody hearing her but Zen causing him to get more irked by the mention of that name. Closing her eyes, she found some of her expended courage, she opened them again and looked at Zen although he still looked as terrifyingly as before if not more. This wasn't going to end well.

 **Also I don't own Master Sinichi and his team they belong to** **xxsinichiuzumakixx**


	5. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: What it Means to be a Jotun?!**

 **This chapter is dedicated to ELatimer who allowed me to use her story in my world of Stories. The name of her work is FROST from the Jotun Chronicles. It's really awesome and you should really read it if you're a fan of adventure, fantasy and romance.**

 **Link: story/990020-frost-jotun-chronicles-1**

A soft breeze flew by, rustling and shaking a few golden locks away from the face of sleeping princess. Her surroundings bustled with murmurs and action to which eventually caused her eyes to twitch. A sign to show that she was waking up, causing the bustling movements to seize. Anticipating her arousal from her long slumber.

"Sssshhh, hush I say! She's waking up!"

"I wonder how her eyes look! Since her face is so pretty~"

"She must be from Hyrule, right? I mean, she can't be a Kokiri since she isn't a kid-"

"She also doesn't have a fairy!"

"And she has Hylian ears!"

"I said Husssssssshhhhh! She'll freak out, if she wakes up this way!"

The young lady giggled in her mind. Her mind was now only half awake, but she knew that wherever she was, it wasn't dangerous as her eyes fluttered open to reveal deep green eyes that seemed to hold the spirit of the forest inside. The people around her all stopped moving at once from that, as they stared in awe. She stood up groggily from her lying position, her blanket falling off to her lap, rubbing her eyes and blinking a few times. She scanned the place with them, although her eyes were still too foggy from sleep to process anything.

She yawned tired which brought up the question in her mind of: how can she be so tired? She tried to remember yesterday's happenings or at least whatever happened before she fell asleep. She yawned again, this time rubbing her eyes more vigorously to wake up from the daze that clouded her mind. The first thing she saw, properly and without blurs, was the palm of her hand. She stared at it for a while, before noticing that what she thought was a blanket was actually a pack of leaves tied together.

She looked at it quirkily and then turned around slowly, her body feeling very heavy oddly, to face whoever was speaking before, only to be shocked to see a bunch of kids, not older than ten years of age! All of them looking at her like she was an enigma, in awe, while she did the same as she gazed peculiarly at the small balls of glowing lights with small wings, flying beside every kid's shoulder, each a different light color. A small cute girl, with chocolate brown hair, was the first to unfreeze,

"Are you alright? Do you need anything? There is a well nearby, if you are thirsty, we can fetch you some water."

The blonde girl nodded, not finding her words, as the brunette beamed and left with another girl who went to help her. The blonde was still dazed a bit as well as the other kids. She stopped staring at the kids, and took a look around. There were small cottages everywhere in a vast and beautiful plain of grass with flowers and trees; she could see more and thicker trees far off, probably drawing the boundaries of this small village.

Something settled on her head, and she looked up to see a tree branch. She just realized that she was resting beside a big olden seeming tree, with the face of an old man on it, as it said with a deep but friendly voice,

" _No, this is not a dream child...This is a reality far from anything you could ever imagine, young one._ "

The blonde looked at him with wide green orbs, not believing what she just witnessed or heard. She turned again to the kids as she heard shuffling steps coming forwards towards her. This time it was a boy, he had messy soft-looking short brownish blonde hair and brave clear blue eyes that reminded her of the sky as well as a very friendly face. He wore green clothes like all the other kids, with a pointed green hat as well that drooped behind him. He was interestingly the only one without a light ball flying around him. She wondered why.

He slowly approached her, in a manner to say that he didn't want to alarm her, as he waved his hand saying hello and stretched it out for a handshake, "Hi, can you tell us what your name is?" She looked at his hand and then his face and then at the other kids who were edging curiously. She attempted a smile as she shook his small hand stuttering out after finally finding her voice, "Trisha, my name is Trisha Valince."

The boy beamed at her, the same way as the brunette did earlier, as he released her hand and bowed slightly out of manners and introduced himself next, "My name is...Link!" At that moment, something clicked in Trisha's mind and she started looking around frantically, worrying the kids as they wondered what's wrong. Link thought that he might've done something wrong, but Trisha was to frantic to notice anything. She finally realized where this was. This was her brother's, Ultrich, favorite place in the world where the hero he admired the most resided. She was inside a game. And the game was: The Legend of Zelda!

"Oh no..."

Trisha looked outside of her school bus's window excited. They were getting really close to the camping site. She went camping before, but it was with her family and never with her school friends. So she was pretty disappointed to see their school's definition of camping once they arrived. This place was basically a resort! Sure it can be called a forest, but it was pretty shallow, plus there's this big building right beside the clearing where they were going to 'camp' that seems to be there 'just in case'. This wasn't camping! Trisha was completely bummed out.

She flinched as she felt someone's hand on her shoulder, to see her best friend Sonia waiting for her, smiling in a way to try to lift her spirits up. She was a petite girl, around 5'1, with light shoulder-length brown hair and hazel eyes, with eye glasses fitting perfectly on her nose. She was a really nice girl but sometimes had pretty wacky ideas. " _Come on guys, the teacher will start calling names soon!"_ Kora yelled at them while hanging from the bus door, another one of Trisha's friends. Kora was a hyper and sportive girl with long dark hair that's usually tied, but not today, and similar colored eyes. Kora has a pretty cheerful personality, unless she is angry or competitive, she gets pretty smug. Trisha smiled at them, tapping Sonia's shoulder, " _Last one out is an ugly tangerine!_ " She yelled as she raced her out, " _What does that even mean?!_ "

Once out, Trisha spotted Chris and a bit of a red hue reached her cheeks, which she covered quickly with her hands upon realization. 'What is he doing here?! My heart isn't ready for this!' She thought, forgetting that this 'camping' field trip was a joint excursion with four, or five, different schools. Her friends, noticing the state she was in because of a boy, smirked as they looked at each other and pushed Trisha forward making her let out a silent yelp. She covered her mouth and looked back at them angrily as they gave her thumbs up and mouthed to her, " _Break a leg!_ " She felt as if she already did though, as she sighed and nervously moved forward towards the headphones wearing guy.

After getting closer, though, Trisha's nervousness left her completely and was replaced by worry upon inspection of Chris's face which was clouded with suspicions, "Um, Chris?" She called out questioningly as he jumped a bit, not seeing her there. "Oh, hey, um...Trisha!" He said absent mindedly and then surprised to see her there suddenly, "Are you okay?" "Uh yes, yes I'm fine but..." He trailed off, looking at a certain path that leads to a thicker bunch of trees. "Is something there?" She asked curiously.

He looked briefly at her before responding, "You could say so,...Earlier I saw Bell go there for some reason and that sh*t head Tabouk disappeared as well so...Oh, yeah, sorry for cursing in your face even though it isn't your fault!" Trisha shook her head and smiled, "It's okay." She looked at the path, "Want to go after her to check?" "Nah it's okay, I must be paranoid." He finally said laughing, scratching the back of his neck. Trisha was smiling, happy to see him better when...

*WHISH*

Trisha whipped her head back, the feeling that something was creeping close by resounding loudly in her mind and it wasn't just anything; it was something dangerous. "Trisha?" Chris asked cautious, noticing how alarmed and scared his blonde friend was. She put her index finger in her mouth to ask for a moment of silence as her eyes shakily served their surroundings until she finally saw something gleam in the bushes. She looked curiously at it, less alarmed. The place was eerily calm, well not exactly since you can hear the students chatting a few meters in front of them, but those two couldn't hear it. They were too into searching for whatever to hear anything at the moment.

Trisha kept on gazing at the gleaming thing while Chris stood nervously behind her, he really didn't like what was happening. He looked down in his uneasiness and his eyes widened. He didn't like the situation even more so now! Chris said a flurry of colorful words, causing Trisha to look at him, before in his panic, grabbed Trisha's hand and ran away into the thicker trees. Trisha panted as she tried to keep up with Chris, tripping a few times even, but his grip was so strong that she didn't fall over. He grabbed her so suddenly that she didn't have the time to register what was happening at all! "Chris what's wro-"

She stopped midway through as a tree branch fell behind them, the place where they were just standing a few seconds ago. If they weren't running, they would've been squashed! Still panting, Trisha took the risk to look back just to see whooshes of black straps, heading straight at them! There were also two gleaming dots at the top of each of the straps. Trisha's eyes widened terrified at how fast the straps were, and she knew that whatever those things were, they were definitely trying to kill them.

Trisha's throat felt sore while her hand that Chris was holding was warm. She smiled a bit involuntarily at that. She focused on staring at his back for a while to distract herself from whatever that was behind them. However, soon enough another branch, a tree in fact, fell in front of them and it was too late to maneuver so they had to jump! However, the tree was a bit too high for that. Trisha got alarmed as Chris pulled her forward, "Chris, what's happening? What are you doing?! CHRIS!" She yelled as he grabbed her from her waist and pulled her up to hold her bridal style as he took a leap of faith and jumped over the fallen tree. All the while, Trisha was closing her eyes and gripping his shirt tightly with one hand while the other was wrapped tightly around him.

Chris, sadly, was no super hero. So his foot ended up getting stuck in some of its branches, tripping him off. He cursed out loud and Trisha yelled as they both came crashing down onto the hard ground. Trisha coughed, blinking the dust out of her eyes to be met by a clean stream of blood trickling down a face she knew so well, Chris! Alarmed, her eyes shot open as she tried to stand up but couldn't due to his arms being wrapped tightly around her. He protected her from the fall. And that thought made Trisha want to cry as she covered her mouth with her hands, shaking. He protected her, causing himself to be hurt!

However, before she could even mourn over his heroic act, two figures, smirking evilly, loomed over them. Two figures she wished she would never see again. The figures of two malice seeking shadows. Although they were colorful now, like human beings and no longer black, she would forever recognize that aura of theirs. She shakily looked down at her feet for verification, and indeed, neither she nor Chris had any shadows. _They_ came back. It was _all_ coming back. That terrible nightmarish adventure, the deaths, everything!

Tears streamed down Trisha's face as the two 'shadows' laughed at her misery, readying their weapons for the final attack to kill her. Trisha gritted her teeth as she held tightly onto Chris's head protectively. Glaring at the smirking shadows, with tears running down her face, defiant. Daring them to do it. To kill them. The shadows' smirks widened, **"Aw, we can't refuse a lady's proposal, can we?" "No way! That would make us the 'bad guys' if we did!" "Then shall we?" "Ready when you are~"** Trisha continued to glare at them as they raised their weapons to kill them. Yet, before the defining act happened, a miracle of golden light occurred...

Chris groaned in pain as he twitched and shook. "Hey Tails, I think he's coming to!" "Thanks Amy!" His body trembled for a while longer before he jolted awake, surprising everyone present. However, he didn't notice that as he held his head in pain, "Man! That was one rough landing! Right, Trisha?" He said rubbing his head and opening his eyes only to realize that she wasn't there, which only got him to reactivate his panic mode.

"Woah! Calm down! You need to rest! The injury wasn't deep, but it still was a wound in the head!" "How do you want me to-" Chris stopped mid sentence as he took a proper look at who, or _what_ , he was talking to. It was a fox, or more explicitly, a yellow and white fox with blue eyes and two tails. That honestly left Chris gaping, gaping like an idiot. "Don't you know it's rude to stare?!" Chris, in his daze, looked over at the new owner of the voice, which was a hedgehog? A pink one at that! With shoulder length hair, wearing a rosy red dress and had a big hammer larger than herself. That, if I may mention, left Chris gaping even more.

"What's the fuss about? But did the guy wake up?!" Now another guy showed up. However, now Chris's mouth was way too small to gape more than it already was at the sight of another hedgehog, this time blue, wearing red shoes and walking on its hind legs. Oh! I forgot to mention! They all wore shoes and gloves and walked in their back legs, as well as having a pretty much humanoid appearance!

Chris couldn't help it, he laughed. This shocked everyone present, really. He just couldn't take it anymore as he covered his eyes with his hand, going on laughing. The blue hedgehog smiled at him weirdly and laughed along with him, the others too soon enough joined, catching the disease. "I'm sorry, I was just too shocked to react in any proper way so I just laughed to let it out. My name is Chris. And you guys are?" The others smiled forgivingly as they introduced themselves in turn of appearance. "I'm Tails!" He said winking and giving out a peace sign. Though that wasn't the only reason why Chris laughed, how could it? "And I'm Amy!" She introduced herself while bowing slightly. After all he knows this place all too well. And trust me, it wasn't you're average world. "While I am..." This place was known where he came from, it was a game though, and it was called, "...Sonic, the blue hedgehog!" He finished giving Chris a thumbs up which he returned with a grin.

He gazed up at the sky solemnly; somehow he knew this wasn't a dream but a firm and true reality. He gazed back at Sonic and co. and continued smiling awkwardly.

'What have we got ourselves into this time?!'

A certain redhead shifted in his sleep. He was really uncomfortable for some reason and kept on shifting back and forth on whatever it is he was lying on. He could also tell the sounds of frantic and angry people in the background. 'Ugh, shut it! Can't you see that I'm trying to sleep!' He yelled in his mind, although he more than anyone knew that, even if the whole world became quiet, he still won't be able to sleep because there was something in his back that won't move out of the way no matter how many times he shifted in his sleep. 'Ah damn it, I give up!' He thought as he snapped his eyes open at last, after minutes of suffering and trying to sleep.

He sat up and pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes tightly, tired even though he hasn't moved at all yet. Once he opened them again, his surroundings clearer and his mind functioning properly again, his eyes started to scan the place.

Observation 1: There were two people, both of them blondes with blue eyes, staring shocked at him as if he just rose from the dead. One of them was fairly high on the attractive standards and had lighter hair and deeper ice cold eyes, the other looked kind of older with a small pair of small round eye glasses resting on his nose which made him look like a professor of sorts.

Observation 2: They were staring, hard, at him. And from his perspective and still a bit sleepy head, it seemed to him as if he was seeing double. Especially when both of them, apart from their hair and eye color, were both freakishly tall as well!

Observation 3: He felt kind of hot and cold at the same time, which got him to realize that his shirt was gone, well pulled up high enough to show a bit of his torso though he felt that his back was completely exposed. He then started to feel pretty heated up then even though his shirt was pulled up, to which he followed the source to his back where...

Observation 4: He had wings, literally.

The redhead's eyes widened to the size of tea cups as he gazed at his back shocked. And who wouldn't? He had big fat wings at least twice his arm size sticking out of his back! And that's the farthest thing from normal! And to make matters worse, they were inflamed, like seriously covered up in flames. Well not exactly. He gazed at the unique structures joined to his back in a look that slowly turned from shock to amazement, "Cool!" And that was the first word he said that day as he continued gazing at them.

He stood up abruptly, surprising the other two men in the room, and stormed to the nearest mirror in the room. Which was just across from him and blue but a bit dirty as well, though he didn't mind as he turned his back to it and craned his head to the side to observe the enigmas on his back more clearly. They looked like bird wings, with feathers and all, but what awed him was that they were colored in all of the shades of flames. In his daze, he tried to touch one, but he quickly retracted his hand back as he felt the feathers burn him. He smirked and tried again, touching different parts of the wings noticing that the tips of the feathers were the ones that burned the most until their tail, and that the roots of the wings that were stuck to his back, which were white in color, were pretty cold or simply warm which must be why those wings haven't burnt his back skin off. Or even worse! Burnt his favorite shirt to ashes!

He sighed in relief at that, and craned his head back again forward to look at the two men, who now seemed to be even more alarmed. The redhead examined them closely, the awe in his eyes now disappeared and his face serious with caution before turning his whole body to face them. He spared a small look to his surroundings before looking back at the two men. He seemed to be in some kind of cheap hotel room, as well as seeming to be in one of the higher floors when looking out at the window view. Did these two find him unconscious and drag him here? Wait, how again did he even fall unconscious? Were they the reason? His head was a mess from his lack, or should I say uncomfortable, sleep, so he couldn't bear many thoughts at the same time. But one thing was for sure: they knew something. Or else they would've run away or called the police or something when they saw his wings.

He narrowed his eyes at them in caution, ready to fight if he has to, though now it will be a bit weird considering that he has wings, but he'll work it out. He looked at them for a while longer, waiting for them to make the first move. He twitched when the younger looking of the two moved, but what he did next caught him off guard a bit as he put his arms up in surrender. The redhead looked at him confused as the blonde smiled reassuringly, "We mean no harm, seriously. We just want to help." The redhead quirked an eyebrow at him, that has got to be the sappiest line he has heard today. Did he seriously expect him to believe him so easily just with that?

"You're the careful type, huh. Look my name's Eric and that's my friend, Caleb. If we wanted to harm you, we could have done so already by now. Don't you think? So I'm telling you, you can trust us." He had a point, but that wasn't enough to get him to yield in. "Ugh, this is just irritating. We have the Queen's orders to finish and we're wasting time with him! Just freeze him! His dumb wings probably won't do much." 'Sh*t! This looks bad!' Though before the redhead could move, his feet were frozen in place. He cursed under his breath but as soon as he looked up, he was met by two guns in his face held by the two blondes.

"I still don't get our needs for guns." Caleb groaned, "It's because it's less suspicious, plus we wouldn't be using them if you let me talk with him properly. This is the second time already!" Eric said looking pretty exasperated as Caleb rolled his eyes, "He's not a girl; your charms won't work even more so now. Unless..." "Shut it! Ever heard of a civil conversation, Caleb?" And he rolled his eyes again smirking, "Well if you want it so badly, here: talk." Eric shook his head as his attention finally went back to the redhead, "Mind if you tell us your name?" The redhead deadpanned at him, "How about you take the guns off my face first?" "Sorry but I can't risk that now, plus we're in a hurry so..." The redhead sighed, "Name's Naruda, Eric. And sorry to say, but I don't think that it was really nice meeting you." "I can see why." Naruda grunted but yielded in to his fate anyways.

As Naruda looked down, he noticed a bed in front him where he was probably lying in earlier, except that there was a small problem with it: it looked burned, bad! That was probably due to his wings which was probably why he was hearing them freaking out as he tried to sleep, ' _That_ or Caleb was yelling at Eric telling him why he hasn't gotten rid of me yet, or something...' he clicked his tongue as he looked up at Eric blankly, who was currently arguing with his buddy...again. Naruda sighed, he felt kind of empty for some reason. There was something he was missing...but what?

"I said that he might help us [...]" "Can't you see?! [...] one of them!" Naruda zoned in and out of their conversation, their guns still pointed at his face. His eyes looking everywhere around the room to try and figure out what exactly he was missing when he finally caught something shine from the corner of his eyes. It was the silver ring on his middle finger with a little black bird on it. 'This is the ring that my sister gave me...Polly. Hm...Polly? Polly. Polly!' His eyes widened immediately at the realization as he felt his back burn. He gritted his teeth together as he glared at the two men.

The two, sensing his hostility, stopped fighting instantly and snapped their attention to him only to be met by two punches, each straight to their faces, making them stumble and back away a little, almost falling down, though they somehow managed to keep their balance through their shock at the sudden punch. "Ouch, he knows how to pack a punch. Shouldn't underestimate his _small_ size." "Yeah, and whose fault do you think it-" Caleb stopped midway through as he heard the sound of a gun trigger being pulled, facing Naruda to be met by a gun in his face, same with Eric. He got hold of their guns when they lost their balance, his feet long unfrozen by the heat radiating from his wings.

However, the guns pointed to their faces wasn't the scariest thing in this situation, but actually the cold glares Naruda was giving them, "Where. Is. My. Sister. You. F*******s!" The two though, albeit his threat being pretty scary, didn't even flinch as they looked coolly at each other, making a silent conversation. Eric raised his hands up again, "Calm down, you were alone when we found you. We don't know anything about your sister, honest." Naruda continued to glare at them, untrusting. After some time of silence, a sly smirk made its way onto his lips, "Ah, is that so?"

As he said that, Naruda started firing his gun randomly all around the room, breaking almost everything in his way and making a lot of noise, the two blondes putting their hands in their ears, before running off to the bathroom while they were distracted, shoving the empty guns in his pockets, and locking himself in. "Sh*t, what is he playing at?! This is why I said that we had to hurry it up!" "Damn, this is embarrassing." Eric said as Caleb frustratedly punched the door to the bathroom. Inside, Naruda was searching for anything that he could use as a weapon. The guns were useless now, and even though the workers must've heard the gunshots by now, the police won't arrive until a few minutes later.

He sighed, this whole thing was definitely not working out well for him, and his mind still doesn't get exactly what's going on. He looked up at the shower head, 'Well, I guess that's better than nothing...' He thought as he took it out from where it was anchored. It seemed to look like it would hurt badly if someone got hit with it. He sighed again, 'Dang, I think that's all I've got.' He jumped as he heard someone slamming onto the bathroom door, probably Caleb, "We don't have time for this! We have to go retrieve Megan Walker and yet we're stuck with this Flame Jotun brat!" That phrase perked Naruda's interest, "That's not right. I don't think any of them had the ability to make wings out of their powers..." "Well then that's another reason why we should've just shoved him into the van and taken him to Queen!" "Not so loud! But I guess I have to agree with you on that one..."

'WTH?! Jotun? Queen! And who's Megan? This isn't some weird $$ story about mythical creatures, damn it! Or maybe could this have happened because of Mega? No,-' Naruda's thoughts were stopped midway as he heard police sirens. After that, Eric and Caleb seemed to talk with a low voice for a while longer before he could hear them walk away as well as the sound of the window opening. Naruda heaved out a sigh again, this time out of relief, the worst part of this mess was over.

"HEY IS ANYONE IN THERE?! IF YOU DON'T OPEN UP, WE'LL BUST OUR WAY IN!" Naruda jumped again, almost dropping the shower head, as he heard the sudden voice of who he thinks are police officers behind the door. 'Cr p! I haven't even figured out how to get rid of these wings yet!' Naruda started freaking out as he looked all around the bathroom, even more so once he heard the door crash open and the voice of someone saying "FREEZE!" as a bunch of footsteps hurried inside.

Naruda started having cold sweat as he stared at the bathroom door frantically and then at the shower head in his hands, 'That's it! Hopefully, these wings are made of pure flames...' He thought as he hurriedly turned the water to its maximum and aimed the shower head at his back before the water came gushing out at the same time as the officers came barging in, filling the bathroom with steam in an instant making all the officers get out coughing, wondering about what just happened.

After a few minutes of silence, with their guns ready, Naruda came out scrunching his nose and waving the steam off...no wings in his back! 'Hah, complete victory!' He thought, his smirk hidden by the back of his hand, coming out of the bathroom looking like a saint...except one with their clothes and hair wet, that is.

The officers dropped their guard when seeing that it was only a teenager. One of them then approached him, who looked like the head of this group, "Hello there fella, I'm Officer Nicholas, and I've been called here because there have been reports of gunshots in this room. Seeing the state this place's in, then it must be true. Mind you telling us what happened?" "Can't say that I do, fortunately for you sir." Naruda flashed a cocky smile which made the officer smirk and ruffle his hair, "I like your attitude, but this isn't the time to be fooling around. Answer the question." Naruda took a deep breath as he started drying himself with a towel, explaining _exactly_ what happened to him at the same time.

Saying that he was _abducted_ and that they _threatened_ him using guns which he was _somehow_ able to steal and make noise with, _hiding_ in the bathroom until help came. "Hm, I see. You've been really brave lad." 'Well it isn't a complete lie.' Naruda grinned at that. Nicholas then confiscated the guns, much to Naruda's disappointment. He really wished to keep them for self defense. After that, they were about to take him to the main office to continue the investigation there, but upon request from Naruda, they let him have a few minutes alone in the chamber so he can get himself ready. Two of them guarding the door outside while the others waited downstairs.

Naruda looked around the empty room filled with bullet holes and broken furniture. His eyes cool and thoughtful as he finally got some time alone to think. He pulled his shirt and down and took off his shoes and socks to dry. He scanned the room with his eyes, finding his grey hoodie jacket over a desk of drawers and right beside it, underneath, was his bag...his bag. He went up to it, and pulled it off the floor, putting it on his lap as he sat down on the half cooked bed.

The first thing he noticed was that his bag was rummaged through, probably by the two blondies from earlier, but the good thing was that he seemed to still have everything. 'Let's see, there's my Nintendo, extra clothes, phone, toothbrush, mini chess board, my wallet and this and that. Yup! I seem to have everything!' He smiled satisfied. He took out his phone and tried different contact numbers, but they all ended with a voice mail saying that the number can't be reached, 'As expected, I guess. Though, I'm sorta still disappointed as well.' He flopped onto his bed, looking intensely at his phone, flipped it, and took out the batteries from it, 'Since this thing is useless now, might as well take out the batteries in case those guys from earlier decide to go fancy and track my phone somehow.'

After finishing with that, Naruda closed his eyes, putting his arm over them as he breathed out in heaves of deep breaths to calm down. 'Those wings...and my feet freezing.' He opened his eyes, staring at the roof. He had to figure out where he was first thing and somehow he was idiotic enough to forget to ask that officer. At least he was sure enough that he isn't at the camping site anymore, or Earth at all for that matters! He remembered Bell's words when they had their first meeting after Mega's incident ended. She said that Warmy assured her that Mega doesn't grant superpowers or magic to people, it mostly affects their minds and surroundings. This was probably the first time that he ever wished that this was another one of Mega's nightmares, but he knows it's not true. This didn't feel like a nightmare at all or something caused by shadows, though he was sure that they and Mega were related somehow.

He yelled out in frustration. Too many questions and not even a single damn answer. He also still hasn't found Polly. He sure hopes that Eric wasn't lying and actually holding her hostage, he seemed honest enough. He told them that his name was Naruda without thinking because that was the nickname he got used to, and he's happy he did, it wouldn't be wise to give out his real name in this situation. He stared at the roof for a while longer before his eyes lit up with determination as he started to pack his stuff when he heard something being ripped.

He nervously looked back to see, to his utmost shock, his wings growing back! Feather by feather, still the shade of flames, and hot too since he was dum-reckless enough to touch them again. He was horrified; the sight of his favorite shirt having two holes in them absolutely sickened him! Well, here's another thing that he has to deal with.

And with that, he now had to pack bottles of water as well to wash off his wings in case he needs to. He looked at his watch in panic, three minutes passed since the officer left him, around five to ten more minutes and they'll start to get suspicious, he has to be gone by then. He shoved as many bottles in his bag as he can before he heard a familiar voice behind the door, "Yeah he's my friend, I heard he got captured by thugs so I came to check up on him." 'Eric?!' Naruda cursed under his breath as he grabbed his jacket and bag, too late to wear his shoes now, and went over to the window.

This was the fifth floor to his dismay, but two floors down stood a tree. Naruda nervously swallowed back whatever was in his mouth as he took a few steps back after opening the window, 'Can't say that this has been the worst thing I've been through.' With this in mind, he ran up to the window and jumped over to the tree in time to hear the door open. As he crashed onto the tree, the branches already poking him everywhere and scratching him up, he grabbed fistfuls of leaves and branches as to not fall off and looked up to see Eric at the window looking at him with a face he couldn't decipher.

Naruda smiled at him before he hopped down the tree with his belongings, 'Bleagh, got some leaves in my mouth and twigs in my hair!' He thought spitting them out and ruffling out whatever was in his hair. "Mom, mom! Look! That guy has dust cleaners sticking out of his back!" "Hush, honey. You shouldn't look at weirdoes, they have bad influence!" Naruda deadpanned at them, irked, noticing that, the mother ushered her son to leave faster. 'Great, now I'm a cleaning products advertisement as well as a hobo, great!' He thought irritated when he noticed that Eric was no longer at the windowsill, 'Damn! Better start running!' And with that he was off, trying his best to ignore everybody's stares.

While still running, Naruda noticed a piece of cloth sticking out of his pocket. His hurried gaze softened as he pulled it out; taking a sharp turn around a kid he didn't see at the same time. He huffed out in a relieved sigh, continuing on running for his life, not knowing where exactly to go as he looked at the handkerchief in hand warmly. Not caring about any of the above for a moment. The handkerchief had a unique emblem on it of what seemed like a blue phoenix, the back ground being white in color.

He smiled fondly at the memory of when Trisha and Polly gave these out. It was Polly's idea but Trisha was the one who made them. The five of them got one, all of which had a light blue color as a background except his, saying that they made it to represent their group, and his was a different color because he was their leader. His fond smile turned grim, as he shoved it back into his pocket, 'You guys better be safe!'

"Woah!" Naruda yelled as he slipped on ice but was somehow able to regain his balance after ruining a nearby booth, "Hey!" "Oops, sorry mister. I'll pay for it later!" Naruda yelled as he kept on running, looking back slightly to try to see if he could spot Eric, and it was honestly not that hard considering how much he stands out with his features. 'Sh*t! I knew it! Ice doesn't appear out of nowhere especially when it's this warm! He's so close too!'

Naruda continued on running, people starring at him even more now since his wings kept on growing. He cursed. He had to find a way to get rid of them. As he continued on running, taking as many twists and turns in narrow roads, to lose sight of Eric and passer bys, he rummaged through his bag for one of the pre-filled bottles of water, opened it with his mouth and poured it all on his jacket, soaking it wet. He started panting while on his way down an alleyway, his breath coming out in clouds, 'Why is he so persistent?! Leave me alone already!' He thought as he started wearing his jacket on one side, evaporating one wing after some time. He then touched his other pocket, the one without the handkerchief, and sensed a pair of scissors, 'He isn't a shadow so it might not have as much damage, but it's still sharp enough to be considered an efficient weapon.'

Naruda stopped running at that though, shock painting his face at the looming wired fence in front him, 'Yay, the cliché stuck in a blocked alleyway because of a wall/fence with a serial killer behind you scene! Ain't I the luckiest?!' Naruda clicked his tongue as he looked back. He still couldn't see Eric, but he knew that he'll be here any minute now. Naruda grumbled a flurry of curses again while scratching his head searching for idea, and then looking up at the fence again. 'Guess I have no choice but to climb over it...'

With that thought in mind, Naruda began taking a few steps back before running again full speed and jumping over at the fence, grasping it with all of his might using his hands and feet as he started climbing. "Stop!" Naruda started up with a jolt at the sudden voice. Eric caught up with him! He started climbing up faster when he noticed that his right foot was frozen against the fence, "Got you!" Naruda kept on cursing as he tried to get his foot out in vain, his foot wasn't budging.

He could see Eric now on the other side clearly, and that was bad, "Move damn it, I said move!" He yelled angrily as his wing suddenly went ablaze. Bits of ashes and flares falling out and burning his face slightly, but nothing that he couldn't bear. The ice finally melted, alerting Eric, and Naruda continued his climb up briskly, finally reaching the top and jumping to the other side with one hand catching his jacket and bag so they wouldn't fall off his back.

He bent his knees as he fell on the firm ground again, wearing his jacket over his other side as well, making his second wing disappear. "You know, you could've just burned the wired fence with that wing right?" Naruda jumped at the new voice. He hasn't seen him there! Or more like, since when was he there watching?! Eric's marching footsteps stopped behind the fence, and Naruda looked back alarmed. But before he could stand up and leave, the newcomer grabbed his arm and pulled him. "Let's go! I know a good place!" And with no more further ado, Naruda was being pulled away by the stranger, leaving a seemingly angry yet cool Eric behind.

Naruda was panting as they stopped running in seemingly empty clearing beside the road of whatever city they are in. As he continued on panting, he stared at the stranger that led him there cautiously...and he was a weird one alright. He stood coolly beside Naruda licking a lollipop with his tongue being so long, he could probably lick his nose with it. But that wasn't the weirdest thing, it was his appearance. He had short shaggy white hair with a weird ponytail sticking out, his skin was a grayish beige shade, his pupils looked like diamonds, and he had a weird black tattoo under both his eyes. His clothes consisted of a very tight dark purple top that showed his build the way it is as if he wasn't wearing a thing. Black uneven jeans, with one sleeve shorter than the other, a black boot on one leg and black shoe on another, and a bunch of other minor accessories with his jacket hanging loosely from his belt.

Naruda looked at him weirdly as he regained his breath, 'Is he what people call an emo? If Trisha was here, she'd call him a fashion disaster though...' He laughed a bit mentally at that but still stayed cautious around him as he said, "Thanks for your help back there um..." "Drakkan." "Yeah, thanks for your help Drakkan." 'Great, his weird name just adds to my cautiousness levels.' "Haha, you don't need to be so tense! I don't bite, swear!" Naruda arched a brow at him but then just shrugged it off. All these worries are just too exhausting for him.

"So what did you do to be chased by a Frost Jotun?" Naruda looked quirkily at him, "You all keep on mentioning Jotuns, Queens and stuff! How am I supposed to know what you mean?" Drakkan popped the lollipop in his mouth, looking at Naruda with what seemed like a shocked expression as he sucked onto it and twirled it in his mouth. "Well-" "Wait before you answer that! Could please even tell me where the heck am I...and the date?!" At that, Drakkan started laughing, "Goddamn it, you crack me up. So you don't even know that, aye? We're in Canada, somewhere in Grand Prairie. I don't know the exact date. But we're nearing winter..." "You gotta be kidding me!" "Well if I am, I didn't know about it!"

"We can't be in winter; it's too warm for that! And I'm not sure what or where Grande Prairie is, but I can't be in Canada!" Drakkan stopped laughing, his face confused now, "Well I don't know how you got here, but it's winter alright, can't you see the people in vests and the snow everywhere?" "What sno-ohhh." He has been in such a hurry that he hasn't noticed it, but Drakkan was right, the whole place was covered in snow. Well, he always did have a higher tolerance to the heat and cold than most, and earlier when his breath came out in clouds, he thought that it was because Eric was doing something, but it turns out that it was because of winter. 'I'm such a dope sometimes.'

Naruda rubbed his eyes with his fingers and then gazed at Drakkan for a while, "So? Who're Jotun? And I'd really appreciate if you told me who you are as well?" Drakkan smirked mysteriously, "Me? And you sure do love to ask questions, but let me ask one question to you first: Do you know who you are? Do you know your path?" Naruda was about to say that those weren't a single question when Drakkan flicked his forehead. When Naruda opened his eyes, rubbing his forehead, Drakkan was already gone and disappeared. In his place, on the ground, though, was a piece of paper. He picked it up and looked it over. In it, was written a couple of words in a language that he couldn't understand, but he could tell that Drakkan's name was on it alright as well as a phone number.

Naruda looked at it suspiciously, and yet he kept it anyways just in case. He sighed again as he scratched his head, he had no idea what to do next when he suddenly smelt something burn. He looked behind him and felt his eyeballs fall out. He took out another bottle of water and splashed it on his jacket, "Oops." He muttered, hitting his head with the palm of his hand, as he stared at the fumes coming out from his wings evaporating again. He now had three more bottles of water, plus it seemed to be almost noon and he was getting really hungry. He had to find a settlement nearby.

He looked up when he noticed a black van stopping beside him on the road. "Are you okay? Your vest is fuming!" A blonde girl with blue eyes said, 'I think I'm getting sick of blondes...' the boy beside her, though, in the driver's seat had curly brown hair and deep brown eyes. He also looked very cautious and suspicious of Naruda but he didn't show it, 'Hah, you can't trick me though...' They seemed to him like the most contradicting pair though.

Naruda gave a friendly smile as he joyfully exclaimed, "Yeah it's fine, I made that fume hoping that a taxi would stop by! Mind dropping me at the nearest hotel? I'm a traveler!" He said, and honestly, he thought that his own acting was pretty good. The girl went over and gave her boyfriend a questioning look which he replied to by giving Naruda a long stare and then sighed and nodded, pointing at the back. Naruda smiled even wider, genuinely, at that. 'He isn't as bad as I thought.'

"Thanks man!" At that, he speed walked over to ride at the back of the van. After a few minutes of silent riding, Naruda finally decided to ask, "So for how long have you both been dating?" He heard some ruckus and he chuckled, imagining the two blushing hard. "W-we're not!" Naruda smirked, "Oh really?-" He took out a rubix cube from his bag and started solving it, "-Then care to explain what are you two doing in this van in the middle of nowhere, with you blondie only in a sleeveless nightgown in winter, with this other guy who doesn't seem like he's related to you. Plus, you both seem around my age, sixteen to eighteen, and I don't know the legal age to drive here in Canada, but I'm sure that you can't just get a van like this." He went on solving the cube as the other side stayed silent.

"I can drop you off here if you want? Good luck finding a taxi then." The boy said, Naruda being sure that he was smiling smugly. Naruda sighed and laughed, "I'm just teasing, no need to get so glum. I don't really give a damn about your business so rest at ease." "I know, you're not the only one with a sense of humor." Both guys started to laugh then. Naruda started to really like the guy.

"Yo, hey, wake up!" After being shaken quite a few times, Naruda's eyes finally twitched and opened to see the blonde girl and curly haired boy. He yawned; he didn't really expect himself to be that tired. His eyes then shot open when he remembered something and he discreetly looked behind him to see that his wings haven't grown back yet or burned his jacket. His shoulders slumped relieved. After that, he took his things and jumped out of the van, inspecting the place.

It was way past noon, and they were in front, and at the parking lot, of a relatively small, but not really poor, hotel in the outskirts of Grande Prairie. 'How weird, I'm pretty sure Drakkan didn't take me that far for this to be the closest hotel around. Those two could be travelers as well, but then they wouldn't have to go this far. Are they running away from something?' Naruda took a small glance at the two only for his eyes to make contact with the boy making him look away. Though he did notice one thing from that small peak, which was that the boy's jacket was around the girl, probably so that they won't look too suspicious and more like lovers. Though that only made Naruda them more guarded in his eyes.

Naruda laughed a bit as he noticed that Megan wasn't wearing shoes, 'Yup, good luck on _not_ being suspicious', silently following them as they went inside. "Ah, you must be Loki and Megan! Hm? Is he with you?" "No, no he isn't." "Oh I see, your room is right this way then!" Naruda watched from the sidelines, trying to calm himself at the sudden appearance of the hotel assistant. But at the mention of their names, he immediately snapped his attention to the blonde, 'She's Megan?! Nah, impossible right? What are the odds...but I can't help but think that it's her. Should I say something? Or maybe she already knows. But if she does, doesn't that mean that she could probably help me too? Though it could be a trap and she's actually working for or related to them, after all she has their same general features. But...' His gaze switched to Loki, who as it turns out, was looking at him all this time! Naruda guiltily looked away.

'I'm not doing this because I want to, but I must if I want to survive whatever this world is.' Determination lit up his eyes again as he went towards the reception office and got a room, but when he went to pay, a terrible realization dawned on him. The money he has isn't in Canadian dollars! "Erm, you don't by any chance accept money of different currencies, right?" The woman behind the desk did nothing but laugh, thinking that he was joking. Naruda frowned. He did have a hobby of collecting all different kinds of coins, but he wouldn't have anything more than one dollar. 'Sh*t, I really messed up this time around...huh?' He thought as he got the money out of his wallet, they were in dollars! He really wanted to question what the heck happened, but he was too happy for that as he gave the amount of money needed for one night to the Lady before leaving, just praying that it wasn't anything fake.

"Finally some rest!" He yelled as he fell face first into the bed. The hotel assistant showed him his room, gave him his card and left. Now he can finally have some well deserved rest! He took off his jacket and almost instantly, his wings bounced out and stretched out by his sides. Naruda grumbled as he sat up. He looked at his jacket, and yup, there was definitely a big hole in it. Though thankfully, it wasn't apparent due to his second black sleeveless jacket over the first grey one. Naruda sighed for the nth time, as he separated the two jackets, putting the grey one in his bag, took out the two previously emptied bottles and went to the bathroom to refill them, his wings of course trailing behind him. That reminded him that he had to learn how to control them somehow.

After shoving the bottles into his bag, Naruda decided to try out his wings a bit. The room was pretty small, with a bed and a bathroom as well as a TV, but nothing more than that really. So it was hard to find a space big enough for him to try out his wings. He took off his shirt and exhaled slowly, trying to calm himself when he noticed something. He looked back and noticed that the curtains weren't drawn in! He quickly closed them, 'My head's definitely isn't in its rightful place today, ugh...' He looked at his feet solemnly, stood up and wiped his face with his hands, looking at the roof for a while and then slapped both his cheeks with his hands, and got to work.

He closed his eyes as he concentrated. He tried to move different parts of his body to see if his wings would react, but nothing happened. So he tried his back bone, which in a split second resulted in breaking a decorative vase that stood on a nearby shelf. Naruda opened one of his eyes slowly, sweating. "Oops?" He didn't know why it sounded like a question now and he didn't care as he crouched down and picked up the pieces of glass that were once a vase and locked them in a drawer, never to be seen again. He sighed again, he seemed to be sighing a lot today, as he hit his head hard hoping that it would work better that way.

He checked this time to see if there was anything breakable and put them aside before closing his eyes to concentrate again. He tried to move his back bone again and he felt his wing twitch, no sounds of something breaking following the motion this time. He opened his eyes slowly and looked at his wings nervously. This has got to be the hardest task he has done up till now. He took a deep breath. And moved his back bone again at a different direction slowly, looking at his wings following the motion slowly and then...

*CRASH*

... Let's just say that Naruda now has to pay the hotel for the broken vase _and_ the TV. Naruda face palmed, 'I guess training these things is a big no-no for now.' He yelled out in frustration after finally putting out the fire that erupted by using his already torn jacket as a blanket, and flopped onto the bed. Bad choice. Now the bed was on fire because of his wings! 'Cr p!' Naruda yelled mentally as he rushed out of the room, took a fire extinguisher, since there wasn't one in his room and came back inside, locked the door, and sprayed the thing like crazy on his bed thinking 'Stupid wings' all the way while doing it!

Naruda was really frustrated now, his head was definitely not in its place, and thank God that there was no one in the hallway or peeking to see him do something so embarrassing. He needed a shower, for more reasons than one.

Steam came out of the bathroom as Naruda opened its door. He stared at his reflection on the mirror with a towel on his head _and his clothes on_. He stared long and hard with a thoughtful expression, his face and arms were filled with gashes and wounds from jumping over to the tree earlier, and they stung him bad because of the hot water from the shower. He wondered why nobody pointed them out, though it was probably because they thought he was caught up in a street fight since the wounds didn't look too severe.

He stared at himself for a while longer before gritting his teeth and swiping his hand over his reflection and leaving, still bitter about earlier. He _sat_ on the half baked bed and started drying up his hair with the towel still thinking about his next step tomorrow. He then soaked his black jacket with water and wore it over before heading to the door, the sound of his grumbling stomach now seriously annoying him. Though as soon as he came out, he met Loki with a grocery bag. He also just realized just how dang tall Loki really was, as tall as Eric and Caleb even!

"Yeesh, giant!" Loki only smirked at that, "Why thank you, can't say the same to you though." Naruda laughed it off shrugging; he was too exhausted to get angry although he usually would since he considered himself pretty tall. "Here catch!" Naruda took out his hand to catch what looked for him to be a wrapped up sandwich. "Could hear your stomach from next door, as well as the sounds of bear fighting in there." Naruda guiltily smiled at that but accepted the food anyways; he was pretty hungry and poor after all. He was also pretty embarrassed by the mess he made and that it could be heard so loudly.

He laughed a bit as he went inside his room, but before closing the door behind him completely; he stared for a while longer at the door next to him, where Loki and Megan were, doubtfully. He hated to admit it, but he was definitely sure that something was up with those two. He stared for a minute longer before closing the door completely, munching on his sandwich.

Naruda yawned as he checked his watch, it was now a new day and it was getting late. He went off the bed and went to take another quick shower to make sure that his wings won't grow back for quite some time, soaked his jacket again and wore it before starting to pack his stuff. Though what really surprised him, was going out to see Megan, "Hey, you're Megan, right? Going out somewh-" Before he could finish she grabbed his arm and pulled him to the elevator. And it wasn't before then that she was able to breathe a bit. "Erm...Megan?" Before he could say anymore the elevator door opened and she left in a hurry, he just noticed that she was holding onto her night gown and in some kind of hurry.

Not wanting to lose one of his few leads in this world, he put money in the counter for the 'damages' and went after her, plus he was pretty worried about her. After going out, he searched the place with his eyes and saw her standing a bit farther away. He smiled as he went to catch up to her, but she instead, as soon as she saw him, looked like she wanted to run away but restrained herself. "Hey Megan, you sure your alright? Where's Loki?" He noticed her flinch at that, "I'm just out for a...walk." 'Way too much delay in her response. She seems nervous.' He let out _another_ sigh as he was about to ask her more when a taxi stopped by. She seemed to be the one who called him.

He looked at her, arching an eye brow at her, "So, you're out for a wa-" Before he could finish, again!, she pushed him roughly and went inside the taxi car locking the door but before she could say anything to the driver, this time he interrupted her, "Look, I don't what business you and Loki have with each other. But I'm not him, I barely know him even! And I seriously need a drive, plus I'll pay the cab and everything too." Naruda looked at her in the eye but she was pretty firm and untrusting. He didn't say that he was also worried about her, because that seemed like the last thing she wanted to hear right now.

They stayed in that position, staring at each other for a while, until Megan saw something that got her nervous and quickly opened the door for him to get in, "Fine you can come. Please go to this address!" She said to the driver as Naruda barely got in and closed the door behind him, and that was when he saw what she did: Loki staring in shock from outside their apartment window. Okay, she had a legit reason to freak out. Though he was impressed about how the driver was able to stay calm through all of this drama happening around him.

Naruda looked over at his bag, making sure he had everything, noticing that Megan was eyeing him suspiciously. He glanced at her for a second before asking, "So, what happened?" "..." "You seriously think that I'll give up if you stay silent?" Megan glared at him and he smiled kindly at her, which made her stop but doubt him even more now, 'I really wonder what's going on in her head.' "You're name." She finally said, "Hm?" "You never told u-me your name." He quirked a smirk at that. "You expect me to give you some information while you refuse to give me some back in return?" She looked pretty cornered about that but before she could say "Forget it." Naruda continued:

"Here's a suggestion, you ask a question to me first and after I answer it, you answer mine. And trust me, I believe we both have pretty good information both of us are interested in." She looked at him for a few seconds, "How can you be so sure." He smiled again, this time a true one, "It's because you look just as confused as I am about this world." At that, Megan lost her words as she pondered the suggestion for a few minutes, the driver seeming uninterested at the conversation, or hearing it at all for it matters.

"Fine, I accept." She seemed really reluctant and unsure though. "So what's your name?" He smiled victoriously. And with that, the marathon of questions and answers began! "My name is Naoru David Renock, though I go by Naruda. So what's yours?" He took out his hand to shake and she grasped it slowly, "I'm Megan Walker." "Wait, so it really is you?!" "What do you mean?" "Some people I met earlier mentioned you and how they let you get away as well as a queen or something." She looked shocked at that, "What were their names?"

Naruda shifted in his seat so he could face her, "Although it's your turn to answer: Their names were Eric and Caleb." Megan's eyes widened, "You didn't just say two random names, right?" He arched an eyebrow at her and that was his answer. With that, they continued giving and taking questions and answers which later on when pieced together, lead to this story:

Megan was abducted at night by said two and put in a black van, Loki then saved her and pushed the two out, stealing the van. While riding for several hours, in the meantime, Eric and Caleb found Naruda unconscious on the floor and for some reason 'kidnapped' him and he escaped them, meeting up with them later on somehow. The story seemed highly unbelievable but that was what they got.

"So why did you run away from Loki?" Megan stayed silent, "You'll think I'm crazy if I tell you so I prefer not to." At this point, they were whispering to each other as to not alert the driver. "By the way, I meant to ask you why your jacket is wet." Naruda looked at his jacket, it was still pretty moist. He smirked, "I'll tell you if you tell me, since my story is just as crazy." She didn't believe him, but played along anyways, "Fine you tell me first then I might." He scoffed; she was obviously trying not to say much because she still doesn't trust him. Can't say that it wasn't the same for him though, since he too left out a lot because he didn't want to say too much, but it seems he didn't have much of a choice now, if he wants her cooperation.

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you." His voice was lower now as Megan involuntarily edged closer to hear him. She was curious whether she liked it or not. "I have wings, and they-pffft! Sorry, it's just the shocked expression on your face!" He started laughing as Megan flushed a bit and moved away angrily, "I'm sorry, I said! But I'm serious. When I woke, I found them on my back and they were made of pure flames which is why I wear wet clothes to extinguish them." Megan looked at him again distrustingly, "Okay, and?" Naruda shrugged, "I'm now trying to find my way back home and my sister as well as my friends." He didn't tell her about being in another world because that seemed like a bit of a too big pill to swallow at the moment. Plus its extra unneeded information.

Megan slumped on her seat, exhausted even though she's been sitting all day. "So now you tell me, why did you run away from Loki? Why do you look like Eric and his bud? And where the heck are you going?" Megan straightened up again as Naruda became all ears, "Fine...Apparently there are two mythical races here: The Frost and Fire Jotuns. And they're at war. I'm not sure why, but I guess it's not to go instinct, the Queen sent the male Frost Jotuns to mate with human females, and skipping the details, I ended up being one of them and they're trying to retrieve me now." Naruda gave her a sideways glance, "Loki was a Flame Jotun, he was going to take me to California where I used to live to hide but I saw his text messages and realized that he was planning on killing me."

Naruda looked wide eyed at her and instinctively reached out his hand to pat her in the head, "What are you doing?" "I don't know, but I used to do this to my sister to make her feel better." "I'm not your sister." "I know." He smiled at her and she looked surprised a bit before returning it for the first time.

"So, all that noise I presume was you burning stuff next door~" Megan had a mischievous smile on and Naruda got flustered a bit, "Shut it..." he grumbled and she laughed, "Well you don't have a very blonde sounding name! Megan sounds like the name of a brunette." "What does this have to do with anything?! And since when were names categorized based on appearance?!" "Man you're pretty dumb if you didn't know." Megan looked at him as if he grew a set of horns, "So what's a blonde sounding name then?" Naruda looked thoughtful for a moment, "There are a lot but...Trisha is a blonde sounding name." He smirked and she looked at him disbelievingly before slumping onto her seat as Naruda chuckled. And they stayed like that for the rest of the ride.

Naruda frustratedly dug out a bunch of dollars and handed them in to the driver as Megan nervously stood out in front of a house, 'She said that this was her adoptive parents' house and that she stopped here first to get some supplies. Anyways, why did I even tell her that I'll pay? Now I'm almost broke!' He gritted his teeth as he looked at the few papers of money he had left and let out a long sigh. She said she wanted to visit a friend as well at school that she was worried about. Yup, he's definitely going to be completely broke by then.

Naruda bored out of his mind, decided to go after Megan. "Nice place you got here." He said as he saw Megan coming down the stairs with a bag, which got her to hurry down and whisper yell, "What are you doing here?! I told you to wait!" "But I missed you~" Naruda made a pouty face which got Megan to laugh, "Stop that! Seriously, Janet would kill me if she sees me!" Naruda smirked as he nodded, understanding, 'Is Janet her mom?'

He followed her with his eyes to see her freeze some tea in a pot while a young toddler sat in her baby seat and looked as if she was rooting for her. Naruda wanted to laugh at the scene, 'So I guess this means that Frost Jotuns really do manipulate ice, so Flame Jotuns should...' Before he could finish his thought process, Megan dragged him outside along with her, "Come one, I'm done." He nodded as she let go of him and he followed her close behind and into the taxi cab. "So where do you plan on going now?" "I told you, to school to see if my friend is fine since she wouldn't answer her phone." Naruda nodded at that when he realized something, "You said phone, and yours isn't by any chance on, is it?" "Yes, why?"

Naruda groaned, "Wh-what is it?" "Take the battery out, or do you want them to track us?" Megan, upon hearing that, hurriedly removed the battery from her phone, embarrassed. "Well sorry for not watching many spy movies!" "That's basic knowledge." She couldn't retort to that. He smiled and pat her head again, "Why do you keep on doing that? Do I remind you of your sister that much?" Naruda shook his head, "Nah, quite the opposite actually, I'm just used to this action. My sister in your situation would wait for Loki to come back, shove his phone into his face and ask for an explanation. If he shows any violent reactions, then she'll grab a book or something and hit him in the head with it before running away!" Megan looked shocked at him and laughed a bit, "I know, she's a bit of the reckless type." "A bit?" They both laughed together at that.

Naruda grabbed his stuff and paid the driver, before leaving with Megan waiting for him, "Are you sure you want to come along with me? What about your sister?" Naruda shrugged, "A hunch tells me that she isn't here, plus its best if we stayed together." She nodded before mumbling a small thank you and entered the school, Naruda behind her.

"Hey Barbie, where did the rest of your friends go?" Some guy and his friends said as they approached Megan, 'Friends? I thought she had only one, anyways...' Naruda snuck up behind the guy and kicked his knees causing him to buckle up and fall down, "Get a room. If she doesn't want to flirt with you, you don't have to force it on her, do you?" Naruda said as he looked down on him, Megan and the other guys shocked by what just happened, as he motioned to her to go to her friend while he handled them.

"Ouch! Damn you!" Naruda stepped back a bit as he raised his hands in the air, "Woah, calm down man." The guy stood up as he launched himself at him. Naruda reached for another one of his bottles and threw it at his face, hurting his eye, blinding him momentarily. Naruda took that chance to pull him by the collar and threw him at his friend before he kicked him in the chest causing them both to fall down hard. His other pals, after that, raised their hands after that in defeat and left, thinking that this was all not worth the trouble. Naruda huffed as he organized his clothes and put his bag on his back again.

Naruda came out of the men's bathroom waving his hands around to dry them. He went in there to re-soak his jacket, not wanting his wings to pop again out of nowhere and burn everything in the middle of their journey. As he came out of the school building, he was honestly surprised to see Megan waiting for him, he honestly expected her to still not trust him and leave him behind. He smiled, "So where to now?" "I'm thinking of taking the bus to California since Loki said that the Queen doesn't like warm places." She started to look down, and Naruda suppressed the urge to pat her again.

While waiting for the bus, Naruda spoke up again, "You're friend, um-" "Charlotte?" "See now that's a blonde name!" "Would you drop that subject already?!" "Yeah, yeah sorry. So is she-" "An experiment as well? I think so, maybe, but probably a failed one because they didn't come to get her." Naruda nodded at that as they both boarded the bus.

They both went down at the last station, the depot. Naruda took a sideways glance at Megan. He didn't really mind it that much, all the travelling and danger because he's already been through a similar experience, but he wasn't sure about Megan, she seemed so exhausted by all of it, which was the main reason why he just followed her, he didn't want to add more onto her shoulders. He smiled as he hit her back lightly, "Come on!" He nudged her but she only glared at him, although there was a small visible smile on her face. 'She probably appreciates the company.'

"We have to check when the next bus comes." She said pointing at the board with the schedule. "Woah, a whole hour before the next one! Wanna grab something in the meantime to eat?" Naruda asked and Megan slumped a bit before nodding when she froze. Naruda tilted his head curiously and then looked at what she was to be stunned as well. It was Loki! He still hasn't seen them, but it was definitely him! 'She didn't remove the battery in time, they probably knew by then her trajectory. Or they used another method to track us. Either way...' Naruda grabbed Megan's hand as they ran for it, before Loki could notice them.

"Let's go there!" Megan said as she started to lead him to a nearby building, barging onto it from panic. They both started panting a bit before noticing that they were in some kind of hotel and that there was a startled young lady at the desk. Seems that barging into a building wasn't the best course of action to not look suspicious.

"Want to take a room just until he passes by?" He whispered to her and she pondered it for few minutes before nodding and going up to the lady and asking for a room, to which made her shoulders slump. 'Poor lady, we must've frightened her...' "Only one room?" Before Naruda could say 'no' Megan had already agreed. He gave her a weird look, "It's cheaper that way. Plus, I can always make you sleep in the hallway if you try anything weird." She smiled playfully and he rolled his eyes, "Har har har, very funny. I'll sleep in the couch don't worry." She laughed as they got their card to their room and left.

The room was worse than the previous hotel he stayed in and even smaller and uglier, with a queen sized bed, a desk with a chair, a nightstand, and a big old looking TV. 'I guess it's not bad for $80.' Naruda thought as he slumped on the chair, there was no couch so...'I can already feel my back aching.' He looked at Megan and she gave him a sympathetic look while trying not to laugh as she went into the bathroom. He laid down his head on the desk, closing his eyes momentarily before opening them again and rummaging through his bag.

He took out his mini chess set and laid it on the small desk. He rummaged through it took out the black king, 'Mega is obviously the root of all this. I'm still not exactly sure how I ended up here but it must be because of that blinding light.' He put the black king on his side of the board as he took out the white king this time, 'Okay Mega, if this is how you are going to play then you're on. I really love board and strategic games though, so be warned...' He held the White king with his index and middle finger as he smirked, '...why so? Simply because I am King! And as one, I'm definitely not going to lose!' With his smirk still plastered on his face, he put the white king in his rightful place as he slumped onto the bed.

"Aren't you coming?" Megan asked, wearing a red knit hat and by the door, "No, I'll sleep now so that I can keep watch at night. Just please be sure to bring me something." Megan shifted uncomfortably, not really liking the idea because she still doesn't trust him 100% but still nodded and agreed anyways, since she couldn't expect him to trust her when she doesn't trust him back. And with that she left, with Naruda lying on the bed.

His eyelids slowly fell down over his eyes from exhaustion. Though before he completely fell asleep, he saw the chess board: The black king and his army of foot soldiers on one side, while the white king stood on the other with only the queen and one of every pair of fools, horses, and towers. He smiled peacefully, as his lids fully closed and he fell onto a deep slumber.

 **My deepest gratitude to Erin Latimer!**


	6. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: A Friend's Duty**

"My name is Berumi Hiyoran."

I'm not sure why, yet for some reason, at that moment, it just felt right. Giving out a name that was different from my own...

I...don't remember much.

Except that I was devilishly attacked by a group of three shadows who appeared out of nowhere during our school's camping trip.

I couldn't believe it...

Shadows, after Mega's explosion, returned back to their rightful places as nothing but lightless spaces beneath us. I, we...none of us noticed them disappearing from right under our feet again. The 365 days of peace must've gotten into our heads and tricked us into thinking that we shall never hear of Mega again...that we were finally free.

But those shadows proved us wrong. Proved to us that Mega wasn't gone forever,...that the nightmare was to stretch on.

Sigh...

I guess, all we can do now is fight on. Thankfully, I kept my glowing weapon from that time, that fight that started and was supposed to end a year ago. But those three took me by surprise and...sorry, I don't remember after that except that I threw out my old glowing weapon and as I did that, my own body started to glow only for me to wake up from that nightmare to find myself in a landscape that felt as though I crawled out of a dream.

I groaned as I felt my back ache. And not just my back, but my entire body. It felt as though I was being stabbed all over the place. Over and over again. It hurt. Hurt so bad that I felt like crying, so much to the point that I forced my eyes open only for them to be stabbed by a blinding light and...a completely white landscape. Or is it a room? Yes, a room.

I blinked a couple of times to get used to the light as I tried to make out where the heck I was. It took a while but once I was able to make out my left from my right, I could finally make out the fact that I was indeed in a room. A brightly lit white one at that. The curtains blew with the breeze of the open window, a wooden desk beside my bed. Oh right, I'm resting on a bed currently as it seems. Covered in bandages here and there, wearing a hospital gown.

Hospital gown?

I looked around some more. It really did look as though I were resting in a hospital of sorts. One clean light bulb hung from the ceiling as it illuminated the room. Oh wait it wasn't lit. The light came from outside. I groaned as I held my head. I'm still so confused about everything...was my head even screwed on properly? I tried taking deep breaths as I shifted in my bed to face the window better. Even though the curtains were distracting a bit, I could still tell that the scenery was beautiful...and strangely familiar too.

The door suddenly creaked and I snapped my head towards it, or I would've wanted to but I felt too sluggish to do that and so ended up just turning my head ever so slowly towards the direction of the noise.

A girl emerged from within it. She had a broad forehead yet a beautiful face with bright green eyes and strangely light pinkish hair. She wore a red gown that was unlike what I've seen before and yet...again...it felt familiar as though I've already seen all this before. If my head didn't throb so much, I'm pretty sure that I would've already figured it out.

The girl walked through what I assumed to be my hospital room normally as if she's already been here many times before. I looked on peculiarly, following her with my head as she walked over to the desk beside my bed, inspecting the wilting flowers in the vase on top of it. Weird, I must have been really dazed not to notice that being there before.

I kept on staring as she looked at the flowers sadly then sighed,

" _They're already wilti-AAAAHHHHHH!_ "

She screeched as she saw me awake and staring at her, pointing her index at me as she backed up against the wall. I myself jumped slightly at her sudden outburst. I didn't expect her to scream. Just as I was about to ask f she were alright, someone else barged into the room in frenzy causing me jump again.

" _Sakura! I heard you...scream? Oh you_ awoke? Thank God!"

A man with dark skin and a scar across his nose emerged. He wore a green sleeveless vest and a pair of black pants and blue sandals. I blinked several times at him in shock as he approached me slowly, probably trying not to startle me further, as he helped the fallen pinkette stand up. The girl gave me a stink eye and I couldn't help but feel apologetic as I flashed to her a kind smile that didn't seem to do much.

The man coughed a bit trying to ease out the tension and get our attention all the same. I looked at him expectantly, my mind still foggy though,

" _Well then, I'm sure you're confused but let us at least introduce ourselves; I'm Iruka and this here is one of my students and the one who found you, Sakura Haruno._ "

The girl seemed to bow slightly at that but I just stared on dumbly at that. Was it me or were they speaking gibberish? The girl glared my way at my lack of reaction, stomping towards me as I backed off until my back hit the wall behind me from fear of what's to come. She halted a few steps in front of me; scratch that, a few inches away from my face, pointing her index finger at herself as she slowly spelled out to me,

" _Sa-Ku-Ra Ha-Ru-No. You?_ "

"Eh? Sakura?"

I managed to mutter out flabbergasted at her proximity as she proceeded to nod. I processed what she said, looking down, eyes slightly wide.

"Saku...ra?"

" _Yes?_ "

The pinkette was obviously getting worried, or maybe even scared, at my reaction and how I kept on repeating her name in a trance, as if reciting a mantra. Iruka cautiously came closer, putting his arm over Sakura who was backing off when I suddenly snapped, shoving my blanket off and throwing it at them. Not even caring about the state I was in, I rushed towards the open window, almost falling out, as I leaned on, and taking in as much of the outside surroundings as possible. The forests, the olden looking village, the faces engraved in the mountains and cliffs at the far side of it, and the trees among trees covering the exterior of it. Eyes wide, not missing a single detail or batting a lash. I just had to be dreaming.

" _Um, Miss-?_ "

Before Iruka could even continue, I was already off the window and running towards the door, shoving it open as I ran out as fast as my legs and disheveled body could carry me. I could hear Iruka and Sakura yelling at a distance for me but I didn't listen, or even understood what they were saying for that matter, as I continued to run, freaking out passing nurses and patients without so much as an apology in return. I would've felt guilty but it wasn't the time for that as I hurried on.

I swerved sharply to the left when I noticed a descending staircase, jumping on its railings, grasping it tightly as I slid down as fast as I could too tired and time consuming to climb them down properly. As soon as my feet, which I just noticed were barefoot, set root on the ground, I sprinted off again. Opening the doors of freedom roughly as I finally stepped out of the hospital, panting as my exhaustion finally caught up with me. But the scene left me agape.

I didn't even care when Master Iruka and Sakura caught up, him placing a hand on my shoulder so I wouldn't run off again and Sakura puffing angrily from having to run in circles just to pursue me. But I didn't care, not now, as I took in the incredible scenery because the place I was resting at was definitely the place I had in mind, the place I thought it'd be impossible for me to ever set foot in since it was a place that only existed in fiction and behind a tv screen. Yes, because this was...I was definitely in the world of Naruto...yes, the anime.

I shook my head, looking down and holding my chin with my hand in shock. I know I should be happy like a normal fan but this?! This situation is beyond impossible! I knew that Sakura looked familiar, she looked like a human version of her animated self as crazy as that sounds. The said pinkette looked weirdly at me making me realize that I was staring and so looked away. Master Iruka was obviously getting more worried by the second but I couldn't mind it for now as bad as I felt about it.

Could this be another nightmare? No, I'd no better...nightmares have a certain morbid feel to them. This didn't feel like one. And why would someone have nightmares about Naruto?! Even if they did, this place would look more like a horror movie version of it then as what is currently. Argh! This is too mind grinding! Then could it be a dream? Can shadows even bring dreams to life? Since it's impossible for me to be still asleep! It feels way too real and the pain is there alright...

'No they can't...'

"Warmy?"

I whispered out, looking beside me to definitely see my Chinese redhead of an imaginary friend floating in the air cross legged in her signature red dress. Looking cross, or was it boredom, I could never really tell with her. Others couldn't see her of course. As I thought that, I felt someone wrap their arms loosely around neck and shoulder making me look up to see Mahawa there. Her grey eyes shining and black hair flowing nicely in the air even as it were up in a ponytail. Oh! She's another imaginary friend of mine.

'The reason shadows can bring nightmares to life is because the pain from having the host's souls be consumed is causing their fears to arise more strongly. It's a dark ability that cannot do something as beautiful as bring someone's dream to fruition.'

"I see...and since when were you both here?"

I whispered out, not wanting to freak out Master Iruka even more by seeing me talk to myself aloud. My two friends shrugged simultaneously.

'We were here from the very start but you were too dazed or freaked out to notice us until now.'

I smiled apologetically, though this still didn't answer the fact that I was stuck in a real life version of the world of Naruto. I looked at the two for answers but they were just as confused. Either that or they didn't want to tell me the truth. Lately, they've been hiding a lot of things from me as weird as it sounds considering that they are supposed to be my imaginary friends. It's a bit sad really, not that I can complain. I sighed, still confused as ever but I guess I'll have to accept this as my reality for now. It's not like I haven't been through crazier and worse.

" _Are you alright now?_ "

Master Iruka cautiously asked as I stared on. The poor guy, I must have dragged him in circles. He looked genuinely worried. I still couldn't understand a thing he said though. I smiled at him, trying to sound as reassuring as possible. Oh well, if this has to be the reality I'll live in for now or from now on then I guess I'll have to at least enjoy it to the fullest. First, I have to do something to solve this language barrier between us.

Naruto was set in the age of ninjas so they spoke Japanese. I looked towards Warmy and she shrugged. Well that's to be expected since she was Chinese and not Japanese. I then looked up at Mahawa who smiled apologetically. Mahawa was Canadian so no can do about her either. I wasn't Japanese either and none of us studied language arts so we were definitely at a bind. I doubt that the people here knew English either so I guess that means I'll have to learn the language myself. Sigh...

And with that thought in mind, I was dragged back into the hospital. Oh well, I was glad that they considerate enough not to scold me or ask why the heck I did that. They probably thought I just ran off due to confusion from just waking up...and they were kind of right to be completely honest.

" _Huh?! Why do_ _ **I**_ _have to be the one teaching_ _ **her**_ _?!_ "

Sakura yelled from behind the door to my hospital room. I was currently back in my bed trying to read a book to pass time but that was an obviously futile notion since the books here were written in Japanese as well. Why was life so cruel?

Master Iruka had just pulled Sakura aside for a private conversation. Though it wasn't all that private considering how loud they, or should I say Sakura was being. Again, I didn't understand their conversation to really care.

" _Please Sakura. We can't really question her about anything when she doesn't even get what we're saying. And you're the smartest one in class so I can't leave the task to someone else._ "

" _But why me?! Why not a teacher or even you?!_ "

" _She'll feel more comfortable if it's another girl her age doing it. Please understand. You yourself saw the stat she was in right? It could end up being something really dangerous if we don't handle it soon. The Hokage is worried too, so..._ "

" _Fine! I get it, I can't say no when you ask me like that..._ "

" _Haha thanks, much appreciated._ "

After that last comment from Master Iruka, they both emerged from behind the door, Sakura looking defeated. I almost felt bad for her and wanted to comfort her, but I could feel that it was partly my fault. The pinkette snapped her head towards me, looking like she wanted to groan but held it back. Master Iruka being a safe distance away trying not to laugh at all this.

Sakura took a deep breath before abruptly pointing at Master Iruka, startling us both.

" _Sensei._ "

It took me a while before I managed to unfreeze and nod my head. Was she saying that Master Iruka was a teacher? I knew that. She then pointed to herself and then to me after saying 'Sensei' repeating the action over and over again before giving me a questionable look.

I thought for a while before grabbing a paper and pen nearby and started scribbling a few drawings down before showing it to Sakura who stared on quizzically. It was the drawing of a teacher in front of a student. I then pointed the teacher towards her and the student towards myself hoping she'd understand. I wasn't sure what she was saying earlier but from what I've understood, she's saying that she'll be teaching me, right?

It took Sakura a second before she understood me nodding, grabbing the paper and pen from me and drew a character in it, turning to me saying,

"'a'"

I stared at her bewildered when she repeated the sound again and again, edging me to say after her and so I did. She then wrote a different character and beckoned me to recite it with her after reading it,

"'me'"

I repeated again when she put both characters together, drawing beside it a raining cloud.

"Ame."

"Ame..."

I repeated nodding slowly feeling a bit silly. It felt as though I was a kindergartener all over again not that I could complain. At least I'll be learning a language I've been yearning to for a while. Sakura was about to continue when I took the pen from her, she was about to object when I drew an arrow towards the drawing she made of the rain cloud, writing its translation in English.

"R-A-I-N. Rain."

I spelled it out smiling beckoning her to say after me and she did. She was teaching me her language; the least I could do was teach her back. As we were distracted and curiously teaching each other, I barely noticed Master Iruka tip toeing and leaving us to our business quietly, not wanting to disrupt our fun. Well I wouldn't have if Warmy didn't point it out. And so with that, Sakura and I spent the rest of the day teaching each other the alphabets along with simple words. The nurses coming and going to restock us on papers and pens.

" _A new dress?_ "

" _Yup, figured you'd need one since you were discharged and all you ever have is this shabby purple gown and black pants-_ "

" _Hey!_ "

"- _and my mom keeps nagging me about it so I wanted to get it over with. Thankfully, clothes shopping is my forte so I've got everything covered._ And this could prove to be a good training for your reading. Do you get what I'm saying?"

I nodded slightly,

" _Mostly. Spoke too fast. Understood half._ "

" _Good enough, let's go!_ "

It's been a month since I came to the realization that I was to live in a different world, whether forever or temporarily, and I've learned the basic kanji and speech of the Japanese language. I know it's been only a month but you have Sakura as your teacher then she really drills things into your head. Man, who knew that Japanese was so complicated with its kanji, hiragana and katakana and what not. I barely got half of it! Though I still can't really hold a proper conversation or read books without checking the definition of every other word.

Anyways, I'm currently finally discharged from the hospital. I didn't really have much fatal wounds to begin with, just slight nausea and fever but the doctor wanted to make sure. So now I'm out! Sakura was especially happy thinking she'd be out of responsibility until they realized I had no place to stay at and since they thought it'd be tiresome for me to live on my own when I was just discharged, well, let's just say that Sakura wasn't too happy with how things turned out.

However, even though she keeps on complaining, Sakura was nothing short of a model caretaker. She did all she had to and more and even though it didn't look like it, I could feel that we were really getting along almost like siblings.

Siblings...

I stopped walking, staring at my feet. Sakura didn't seem to notice though as she fawned over something I didn't care to see what. Now that I really think about it, it's already been a month. A month away from my real home. I wonder what they're up to now? The trip must've already ended and my parents must be freaking out over my disappearance and sending a whole search party for me. No. even that would be an understatement.

I gripped my hands together. While I was here enjoying myself and fooling around, my family and friends are surely freaking out. Is there...no way of getting back? The thought of it scared me as I shook my head, trying to ease out the negative thoughts. There must be a way out! I got in here somehow so there must be an opening somewhere! Though the question was where and what exactly...also when?

I shuddered. The more I thought about it the more terrified and worried I got. I just have to play it as it goes. I'm sure the answer will be presented to me if I wait long enough, right? Or is that just my wishful thinking talking?

I grit my teeth. This would've been so much easier if Warmy and Mahawa could just tell me the answers to all my questions like what happened last year. But I guess this time is different, I'm on my own. Last year those two fought by my side but this time they're back to normal imaginary friends who can't be seen or touched other than the fact that they have a consciousness now.

I took a deep breath and slapped myself; nothing will do with me being depressed. I should cheer up...I should really stop expecting impossible stuff from myself. I jumped as I was accidentally pushed aside by someone passing by. I forgot that I stood in the middle of the way. I should go wait for Sakura elsewhere.

I quickly looked around and perked up when I found a very familiar sign. Don't tell me this is...

" _Excuse me..._ "

I muttered as I went inside the small ramen noodles shop. A kind looking older man was behind the counter with his daughter preparing ramen in white cooking uniforms.

" _Welcome! Please have a seat! What will you get?_ "

" _Ah, um, normal?_ "

" _Coming right up miss!_ "

The man asked nicely but I was too flustered by his sudden question to give him a proper answer as I shyly went over and sat on one of the seats in front of the counter. The shop was relatively small, with the kitchen being right behind the counter and the seats, which are no more of a dozen, being right in front of it.

I surveyed the place with my eyes; it looked exactly like how I saw it on tv.

A sudden noise of slurping brought me out of my daze. I didn't notice that there was somebody else in there. However, I should've expected it to be him of all people...in the far side of the shop stood a kid, around my age, with a messy bush of blonde for hair and a pair of green goggles around his head, wearing an orange uniform and whiskers-like marks on his face. I couldn't help but stare. I know it shouldn't have been that surprising to see him here of all places but I couldn't help but be. I didn't expect to meet him so soon or maybe I should've been surprised for not seeing him until now! Ack, I'm so confused now!

" _Would you quit staring at me if you have nothing to say?!_ "

" _Kawaii..._ "

I muttered out subconsciously once the blonde boy yelled out in frustration at me, causing him to be flustered,

" _Wha-What do you mean by that?! Is that how you normally greet people?!_ "

I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment. I said that only out of impulse. Haha, I feel like a weeb but the only word I knew in Japanese before Sakura started teaching me was 'kawaii' which means cute. I didn't even mean to say it.

The blonde boy blushed as he looked away,

" _Are you even going to eat that?_ "

He snapped pointing at the hot bowl or noodles in front of me. I didn't even notice that it was there. I stared at it. I'd love to try it out except for the fact that I had no idea how to use chopsticks which is the standard tool for eating here. In the hospital, I didn't have to worry about that since I was hand fed or ate foods that didn't require chopsticks to begin with. Remind me, why did I even order them?

The blonde kept staring judgingly at me as I shied away from his gaze. How was one supposed to deal with this situation? I cleared my throat, looking away from his judging gaze. Well, maybe if I act as if I know he'll leave me alone? I took a deep breath before picking up the chopsticks, separating them with a snap before holding them in between my fingers nervously, staring at the bowl of noodles as if it were the greatest evil boss I had to face in my entire life.

I was right about to slay it as best as I could when I suddenly heard muffled snickers. I looked up only to see the shop owner and his daughter trying not to laugh, his daughter pointing out the way I held the chopsticks was wrong as discreetly as she could, but I still felt my face flush up. Especially since I could hear especially loud unsuppressed laughs of someone right beside me.

My eye twitched as I shook, turning around ever so slightly to face the blonde who was having the laughs of his life,

" _BAHAHAHA! You don't know how to use chopsticks?! What in the world?! Who doesn't know how to use chopsticks these days?!_ _HAHAHAHA!_ "

He laughed on as I got more embarrassed by the minute. My face beat red. But just as the owner's daughter was scolding him and before I could stop myself, my hand was already grabbing onto his bowl as I threw it right in his face.

"Ha! Who's laughing now you dork!"

I yelled out triumphantly with my hands on my side, leaving the three, agape, in shock and not realizing that I just spoke in English just now. I was feeling pretty good about myself when,

" _Why the heck did you do that?!_ "

"Oops."

I muttered out when it finally dawned on me what I just did as I stared at the blonde who was now soaked from head to do in ramen soup and noodles. He didn't look too happy with shower I gave him though. I laughed nervously as I stormed out as fast as I could. Yelling out a curt " _Thanks for the food!_ " even though I didn't touch my noodles at all before I completely disappeared from their sights.

I ran as fast as I could in between the crowds of people and within the streets but I could hear the blonde yelling right behind me, catching up. God, if I knew this would happen, I would've taken my PE classes more seriously. I started panting when I suddenly tripped on my own feet falling to the side, skidding slightly on the ground.

As soon as I came to and looked up, the blonde was already in front of and seething mad. Haha, I laughed nervously as he stood there panting before,

" _Hey! Pay me back for my ramen you spilled on me!_ "

I was about to apologize when he was suddenly punched aside by a certain pinkette,

" _Naruto?! What do you think you're doing?! You're scaring her!_ "

Sakura raged at him as I stood behind her, still on the ground. I wasn't exactly scared but I didn't say so aloud and just acted like I was because she was protecting me. I nervously stood up, dusting myself off and still hiding behind Sakura who was strangling the life out of Naruto. I felt bad but didn't want to intervene in fear of my own life. When she was done, Naruto decided to turn tail and leave though not before glaring at me.

I stared at him walk away for a while before I finally decided to grab onto him, shocking both Naruto and Sakura.

" _Um, err, tomodachi?_ "

" _Wha-...you spill ramen on me and then you ask to be friends?!_ "

I flashed him a nervous smile. Naruto had been one of my childhood heroes. I'd be an idiot not to want to be his friend. Sure we started on the wrong foot and his personality can be overbearing but that doesn't mean I'll hate him now. Plus, I want to make it up to him for him. I was being a jerk too for this...maybe even more so than him. That's what I get for being impulsive.

Naruto stared at my outstretched hand bewildered for a while, scratching his chin wondering what he was supposed to do now, his rage almost completely gone. I stifled a laugh; he was obviously not used to this sort of situation. Ha! Suffer the awkwardness like I did! Oops, sorry, that came out wrong. Sakura waited in anticipation too, or was it annoyance, I could never tell. Nonetheless, she said nothing as she watched on.

Finally, Naruto decided to hold my hand, rather awkwardly again before asserting a firm grip on it, grinning.

" _You're weird, but whatever, I'm Naruto Uzumaki! The person who will become Hokage, believe it! Ah! You're still paying me back for that ramen!_ "

I laughed, shaking his hand,

" _Sure. Next time. Teach me, chopsticks, too._ "

And with that, we parted ways as both Sakura and I went back to our initial goal for coming here, Sakura questioning me about what the heck I just did back there and scolding me for running off on the way.

I groaned painfully, holding my stomach as I lay my back against the door of the bathroom, locked in. my reflection on the mirror was pale as the water kept gushing out to tune out my groans from the Harunos who were preparing dinner. I cried out, quickly slapping my hand onto my mouth as the other held tightly onto my stomach. It hurt, hurt so so much I'd do anything for it to stop, for it to stop moving around so much.

I started panting as I gripped my stomach so hard I could almost feel my fingers stabbing through. That thing...'that' was really in there-argh!

 **"I'll be borrowing your body for a bit if you don't mind~"**

"Arghhhh shut up!"

I yelled out holding my ears although I knew it was futile. That only served to stop me from hearing and not replaying memories. I kept on crying out as I felt it move over and all around making me seethe out in pain. I've had enough!

I ran over to the sink and repeatedly punched my stomach, trying to force myself to spit it, to barf it out! Anything! I couldn't bear keeping it in there any longer!

Horrendous and disgusting sounds echoed out as I kept on vomiting out what I ate earlier that day along with tons of blood...which wasn't my own...it was pitch black.

" _Hey? Are you okay in there? My mom is getting worried since you're taking so long in there...she's telling you to go change and come over quickly. Dinner is ready. You hear me?_ "

Sakura's voice barely echoed or even registered in my head as I could faintly hear her walk away. I continued clutching my stomach, wiping my mouth from any remains, my eyes tired before they widened as I turned back to the sink to barf some more. Oh well, at least something was coming out...

I groaned on as I slumped to my knees, my hand loosely hanging on the sink. I felt sick. The truth is...I remembered clearly what happened that day...so clearly to the point where I wanted to forget.

Hic...

I whimpered, my eyes stinging as I silently sobbed in pain the water still flowing on.

I stretched as I lay down on my futon. The Harunos were all so nice and the dinner was delicious. I was somehow able to suppress anymore groans of pain from escaping during the meal as well as wash up and look as clean as possible. But now...right now I felt like total garbage. At least, to try and be optimistic, having my stomach full erases out the pain from being hungry and restored a bit of my energy.

I let out a sigh, staring out at the roof in a blissful daze. I never expected me to suffer such a thing in a world like Naruto. I groggily sat up, making something fall down to the floor with a clack due to the action. I tiredly picked it up only to see that it was my hair pin. A small smile made its way to my lips.

That's right, the worst part of this nightmare passed last year. This pain is nothing now. We've beaten them once and we'll do it again...

We?

My smile dropped. I wonder what happened to the others. Were they going through something similar to me or...? A frown made its way on my face as I gripped my hair pin tighter within both my hands clasped together, bringing them up to my chest as I closed my eyes to pray. Due to all the crazy events, I almost forgot that I could pray. Praying always made me feel better.

Dear God, I really hope, I wish, that this isn't a mistake or another nightmare. If this is a trial, I hope I'll pass. But please let my friends be alright. And hopefully, at the end of this fight, we'll all be alright...

I know that praying alone would do nothing, but at least it lifts a weight off my chest. I know that in reality, I'm really nothing but on my own in this. I grit my teeth. I wonder if it is right for me to live my days in luxury like this? Who knows, this might all be fake although I doubt it. Or there could be a darker meaning to all this...when Mega is involved nothing can be too clean.

I fell back into the futon, forgetting why I sat up in the first place, twirling the hairpin in my hands. I felt hypnotized as sleep started haunting me. I put the hairpin back in its rightful place in my head before turning sideways, staring at the new uniform Sakura bought for me. It was really pretty and simple. A white t shirt and pair of pants with red linings and a pair of flowers in the corner. It was really nice. I have to make sure to wear it tomorrow and express my thanks.

And with that...I dozed off with my mind in a haze and stomach still aching.

" _Arm ninthja?_ "

I asked bewildered at Sakura's suggestion with a mouthful of jammed bread. Sakura cringed, not even trying to hide it.

" _Don't speak with your mouth full! And yes, a ninja, or at least learning to be one in the academy like me and that idiot Naruto. We're halfway through the year but it's okay, I'll help you catch up with everything along with Master Iruka. It was his idea. He asked for your opinion._ "

" _Mm hm..._ "

I nodded in agreement as I took a minute to gulp down the last of my bread, sucking my fingers from any remaining jam that stuck on them. Sakura waiting ever so 'patiently' for me. After I was done, Sakura stared on expectantly only to face table when I started making dramatic coughing noises to clear my throat.

" _Just get on with it already!_ "

" _Haha, okay, sorry. It's just so fun to tease~_ "

Sakura's glare explained to me that it wasn't going to be fun for long so I just gave her the answer she wanted after raising my arms in surrender.

" _Fine, fine, of course I'll go! Will I be in the same class as you and Naruto?_ "

" _I'm not sure, but I don't think so since our class is full. Ha! I'll finally get some quality time without you around to bug me!_ "

I smiled at her, sighing. Same old Sakura. I'm a bit sad that we won't be together since I got used to having her around but, well, can't do anything about it. I won't miss the chance to be a real ninja with everyone for the world. I looked up to see Sakura still ranting on. I chuckled, walking over to her, stopping a few steps away.

" _Wha-what's up with you now?_ "

She asked nervously before I bowed don to her. Hands on my knees. Head low. Shocking her.

" _Wha-_ "

" _I just realized that I never properly expressed my gratitude. Thank you so much for everything you did for me in the past month Sakura, and I hope you'll continue helping me out._ "

Sakura was speechless, not uttering a single word for a while.

"You are welcome..."

My head shot up to her at that, eyes wide as her face flushed.

" _What? Did I say it wrong?!_ "

I gave her a close eyed grin,

"No it was perfect~"

I forgot to mention, but Sakura has been learning English pretty well herself. Sakura looked away, yelling at me to stop grinning like an idiot.

" _Come to think of it...you never told me your name, did you?_ "

Sakura asked eyes as wide as my own. We both laughed at that. We never realized. I really never did introduce myself to them. Once our laughter died down. I took a deep breath.

I'm not sure why, but it didn't feel right at the time to give her my real name, just like I couldn't give Master Iruka and the Hokage my real story. It was mostly because it was too crazy and they probably won't believe it but it also felt somehow wrong to tell them the truth. Just like my name...or maybe it was because I was in the mood to give something more Japanese sounding than my boring ol' name. I couldn't be too sure. But at this moment, what escaped my mouth was...,

" _My name is Hiyoran Berumi. Happy to meet you Sakura!_ "

That was five months prior…

"So..you're called Zen now?"

Zen smirked, his dark expression making his present smile give off a more dangerous rather than a pleasing presence,

"Hoho~ And you're supposed to be Hiyoran now b!tch..."

I could barely smirk myself, failing at wanting to seem threatening as well. Gripping my bandaged side with my arm from my previous fight with a certain disgusting shadow that has been living off of me. A tired expression on. I really didn't expect him of all people to be there, to be sharing this journey with me, or should I say, I prayed that he wouldn't be. But sadly all of this was true, it was real, and I just had to deal with it. It was on...

"BELL!"

Yuri yelled out as Reilla stood in shock, but it was too late, they were too late. Their friend was gone. Gone without a single trace. Yuri felt her throat parch up dry. Did she...how could she let this happen? They arrived on campus together, she knows that! They were about to meet up and go to the teachers for attendance when she suddenly ran off to the thicker woods. Why?! Those shadows...could they be? No. Impossible! Mega was supposed to be gone for good! Why...why now? How?!

Yuri held her head in frustration, scratching it up to the scalp, ruffling her hair all over. She was confused. But there was one thing she was sure of. Bell, their friend, was no longer here. Yuri tried to take deep breaths as she looked down at her keepsake from their friend which she just threw at them before her disappearance,...her flash-dagger. She looked at it firmly before gripping it tightly. That's right. There was this too. Bell was leaving this to them. This was no time to freak out. She, they all did it a year ago, so why not do it again?

Yuri grinned. Right. No need to be pessimistic. They could do this! Though...Bell's whereabouts still worried her endlessly. She then suddenly felt a tug, or more like repetitive shaking, at her shoulder. Yuri looked back to see Reilla freaking out and agape, her eyes wide.

"Yuri...did you just see what I just saw? Bell was glowing! No she was being held down by creepy weird black things! And then she was glowing and then-"

"Shhh, don't worry Reilla, I saw it too."

"How can I NOT worry? You said so yourself, right? You saw it too, right? God! This can't be real! I must be dreaming!"

"Get a grip Rei-REILLA!"

"Why are yo-"

Before she could continue her phrase, Reilla was shoved aside behind Yuri who had her eyes wide yet fixed in target as her hands held out the flash dagger and pierced through whatever was in front of her which yelled out in utter agony, backing off. But she didn't stop at that as Yuri grabbed Reilla's hand, pulling her forward again only to swerve on her own heel and stab again whatever was coming behind her. She looked like a pro although in reality her movements were really sluggish and was enabled to do that only due to her sudden burst of energy from fear.

Whatever she stabbed behind her too started to yell out in pain, holding their side which now held a bleeding gaping hole. Reilla thought she was going to get sick at the scene. Yuri smirked, although it was quite forced,

"Hah, I thought you guys left by now with your creepy tails between your legs, didn't you always hate the light, monsters?!"

She snarled at them, but the two stabbed figurines only stayed silent in the dark, before slowly advancing slowly towards them, away from the shade of trees only to reveal two people, with flesh, bones, faces and colors...bleeding! Though their faces were anything but friendly, sweat trickling down their faces due to exhaustion from the wounds they sustained. Their brows furrowed and tightly knit together in an emotion that would express anger and contempt. Yup, they weren't friendly NOR happy.

Reilla looked petrified while Yuri was shocked and confused.

"Yuri! You stabbed real people! How could you?!"

Reilla yelled out in fear, terrified for what her friend has done as Yuri tried to wrap her head around this strange new situation. She was sure that they were shadows! But...how did they come to look so different from a year ago? They looked too humane...they were supposed to be creepy monsters of human silhouettes that awakened the nightmares of those they possessed! Not these human looking figures...well at least they bode of ill intent still...

Something was off. Was she wrong? Did she actually just stab real...people? No! There had to be something that differentiated them even in that form! She had to prove to Reilla her innocence!

"Reilla, it's okay! They're aren't real people! Um, err, uhm, look! They're bleeding! And, um, it's black! Not red like normal people, see?!...wait a fudge, holy sh!t, their blood is black! What the heck are you guys?!"

The two ill figures couldn't help but snicker at that little act as they watched Yuri freak out instead of Reilla who now calmed down a bit and is trying to help her friend, though still wary. One of the figures then spoke, alerting the two girls,

 **"You're right, we are shadows. Surprised? Don't worry; this won't be the last thing to surprise you this year..."**

Yuri's eyes widened as she calmed down instantly, holding out the flash-dagger and standing in front of Reilla protectively, her glare intense on the two figures who only snickered maliciously in return. Reilla standing behind her friend as confused and terrified as ever. This didn't look good as the air grew more and more intense when one of the two shadows groaned in pain as the other cursed.

Yuri grew more alert as the second shadow jumped to the other's side, helping him up, glaring at the two girls. Usually, it wouldn't be so hard to beat them, but the glowing from earlier plus all the sudden stabbing, especially since it was by a glowing weapon, has weakened them. They'll have to retreat and regroup as much as they hated that. The shadows smirked,

 **"Rejoice, we'll leave you guys alone for now but don't be glad for long...we'll be back and when that happens, you're dead!"**

And with that, they vanished. Disappearing as though they were never there to begin with, but as soon as they did, both girls slumped to the ground in relief. Reilla sighed in relief and disbelief while Yuri was panting in fatigue. That was extremely nerve-wracking, in more ways than one, but at least it was over...

Yuri looked down, staring at the palm of her shaking hand. Her eyes glazed over in deep thought making Reilla give her a worried glance. She wasn't much help after all in all this and now Yuri had to carry the entire burden, whatever it is. But before Reilla could say any comforting words, a new yet familiar voice echoed,

"Who in the what just happened over here?!"

Yuri groaned in mental pain, praying that it wasn't him. Anyone but him! But as the two girls turned around to face the newcomer, Yuri had to face the harsh truth that it was in fact him...; Jack Black. And he did not look happy. His sister, Rushie, trailing unsurely behind.

"Where is Chris?!"

Yuri glared at the one guy she didn't seem to ever get along with. This wasn't going to end well, she could feel it...

" _Are you okay now child?_ "

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you Great Deku Tree and Kokiri. Sorry for freaking out..."

Trisha whispered in genuine gratitude as she held the cup of water one of the Kokiri brought her in between her hands as she gazed down at the water serenely, trying to sort out her mind. The group of children around her worried and reassuring her that it was fine.

"Well, we're glad that you seem okay. I'm sorry if it's my fault..."

Link said, looking down guiltily. After all, she began freaking out after hearing his name. Trisha smiled warmly at the little guy, gently patting his head, reassuring him.

"No, it was all mine, sorry. I just...remembered something."

She said looking down and yet farther on, though that only seemed to peak the children's interest as they edged closer,

"Hey, hey miss. Where are you from?"

"Yeah, you must from Hyrule, no?"

"Yeah, since you have Hylian ears!"

Trisha backed away slightly at the swarm of enthusiastic Kokiri bombarding her and yet still managed a smile as she pondered as to how to answer them. But first... 'Hylian ears?' She thought bewildered, staring at her cup at hand. The water rippled on for a while due to the excessive movement before becoming clear again making Trisha focus her eyes on her semi-clear reflection only to drop her cup from shock, spilling the water everywhere and shocking the children.

"Wha-wha-what in the...-"

Trisha stuttered on as she delicately held her ears, fingering them and feeling them to be longer than usual. They were elongated and pointed out, much like an elf's ears. But why? And how?! She was really freaking out as the Kokiri tried their best to soothe her, they didn't get what was wrong.

'What in the world?! Why are my ears pointed out?! How am I supposed to face the other's like this?! And Chris? Chris...wait a moment, Chris!'

She thought as she freaked out even more, shooting up to her feet in an instance at the memory of her injured comrade. Come to think of it, he wasn't there with her and the Kokiri never mentioned another person or 'Hylian' for that matter! Then where was he?

The Kokiri worried out even more once they saw her quickly stand up to her feet like that. They wanted to help out but didn't know how with their fairies flying out in frantic circles. But before any of them could do anything or Trisha could even step a single step over, she toppled over in a faint as the Great Deku Tree quickly extended one of its branches to help steady her up and lie back down, making the Kokiri's all sigh in relief.

Trisha held her throbbing head in pain; it really wasn't wise of her to stand up in one fell swoop like that right after waking up. And now her head hurt badly. She really shouldn't have done that. She looked sideways at the concerned children who didn't know what to do or say as she attempted to smile to ease their worries even though she was the cause of them. Muttering her gratitude to the olden tree, she turned to face the Kokiri properly. Nothing will come out of freaking out pointlessly and her ears weren't the greatest issue now. She had to calm down and assess her situation first.

She took a deep breath before smiling genuinely, bowing down slightly at the horde of worried children,

"First off, I'm terribly sorry again and thank you for your concern-"

To which followed the modest and giddy replies of the Kokiri saying that it was fine or nothing before Trisha continued, a bit more seriously this time.

"-Now, please, if you could answer some of my questions since I'm terribly confused."

" _Ask what you will child. You have the right to know._ "

"Right!"

"Yeah! Just as the Great Deku Tree said!"

"Yup!~"

Trisha's smiled widened slightly as she went on.

"First; before me or alongside me, have you seen anyone else? Specifically a boy around my age who wears headphones?"

She questioned, doing signs around her head with her arms and hands in case they didn't know what headphones were, but the Kokiri only shook their heads in dismay.

"No, we haven't seen anyone with such decription other than you..."

"Yeah, we haven't seen anyone. However, when we found you by the well, unconscious and tired, the well you were by had a huge hole in it and was completely dilapidated-"

"-We found you since we heard an explosion in that direction while gathering wood. Beside it there was this...here."

As the young Kokiri said that, he approached Trisha to set down something in her hand which Trisha immediately recognized. It was her glowing eraser! As soon as she saw the little thing, the blonde felt immediately guilty as she knew that the explosion and well being destroyed was probably caused by her dropping the eraser. Ever since the fight with Mega, they all kept their glowing weapons with them to serve as a reminder for their adventure. Although they were still dangerous, especially hers and Polly's since they are midrange and so if dropped or opened by accident then things would get pretty bad.

Trisha gratefully took back her eraser putting it in her pocket again. She would've used it against the shadows if she weren't so frantic and in a hurry then. However, she still regrets not doing the notion. She sighed, looking back at the Kokiri shyly,

"Sorry about that, the explosion was my fault for dropping this though I'll make sure it won't happen again."

She said sincerely as she heard the Great Deku Tree heartily laugh at that, causing her to be flushed. Well, at least she's armed against any shadows that might appear and knows that Chris never was here, whether it be for the best or worst. She felt her heart beat faster in worry and frustration, gripping her fists against her knees. What now? She was obviously a long ways from home with none of her comrades or a way to communicate with them. What did she have on her person anyways?

"Um, Kokiri?"

"Yes?"

"You don't happen to have found me carrying a bag of sorts, no?"

The Kokiri seemed to ponder her question or a while but before any of them could speak, a branch from the Great Deku Tree moved towards her, holding and intertwined with it was school bag of a rosy tint.

"My bag!"

Trisha beamed, taking it gratefully. She then quickly opened it, making sure of her resources when Link spoke up again,

"Um miss?"

Trisha perked up, smiling.

"Yes?"

Link was shuffling a bit on his feet, wondering if it was right to ask but picked up the courage to do so anyways.

"Where are you from?"

That seemed to perk up everyone's interest as Trisha was, in a word, other worldly. Even though she had Hylian ears, her presence was like that of no other and yet...what truly captivated them were her eyes. Green eyes weren't all that uncommon and yet hers seemed to be crying out in and filled of life. It was a comment she often received due to their deep color but she took it as a compliment.

Trisha smiled nervously at them. She wasn't sure how to answer that.

"Well...I'm neither from here, nor am I a Hylian either."

"Then what?"

"That's...a bit hard to answer. Though I should say that I am very human."

The Kokiri hummed simultaneously in awe, awaiting more to come although Trisha was done and had nothing or wasn't sure of what more to say. She sighed as she zipped her bag, putting it on her back after she checked that she had mostly everything. For now, she had to find a way out.

"Um Link?"

"Yes?"

"Well could you...um, tell me-"

"?"

The little dirty blonde Kokiri edged on closer, eager to know what she had to say but Trisha couldn't say more. How was she supposed to ask them if they knew a way out of here? They'd probably tell her the route out of their village and not out of their world...this won't do.

"Hey? Miss?"

Trisha looked up to be face to face with a concerned Link. He was worried. And he wasn't the only one. Trisha felt bad. But what could she do? She was frantic and desperate. She had to leave somehow and rejoin her friends and family. She couldn't stay stuck here. She closed her eyes in deep thought before letting out a deep breath and eyeing Link again, smiling just as before.

"Could you...tell me about the village, and the Hylians too?"

Link seemed bewildered at the notion but grinned nonetheless,

"Sure! I'll show you a tour as well if you want?"

"That'd be lovely."

Trisha replied standing up, slowly this time as the Kokiri helped her. The Great Deku tree smiling from behind and wishing her and the others a fun time before they finally began walking around.

Most of the Kokiri had already left to do their earlier business since they couldn't leave their village unattended for long or they got bored. Leaving Trisha with Link and a lovely little greenette Kokiri named Saria and a 'tough' looking Kokiri named Mido who seems to be the self proclaimed boss of the place. Trisha found it cute and very hard not to giggle as she ventured around the village with them, listening to their lecture.

"...The Kokiri are ageless children or spirits of the forest each guarded by a fairy and we all live under the Great Deku Tree in this forest!"

"I see, so then what happens if you leave the village?"

Trisha, of course, knew the answer to that but had to act interested if they were to not suspect her anymore if they even are.

"No one leaves the forest or else we'll die!"

Mido was the one to interrupt and answer this time, enraged as Trisha put her hands up.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."

That didn't seem to do much but he calmed down anyways thanks to Saria. Trisha couldn't help but sigh in relief.

"So you guys can't leave...hmm. If, and only if, someone ever happens to want to travel to a completely different world. Is there a way to do that? I mean, fairies and spirits exist right? And so does magic in a way, so...do you guys know of a thing that could do that. Just out of curiosity."

Trisha added the last part quickly as she stared on hopefully at the children. Link and Mido looked torn, unable to think up of anything along with Saria until she finally opened her eyes and perked up her index like one would do once they got an idea.

"Well, there is this. I'm not sure if that's what you're searching for but there's this myth...have you ever heard of the Optare Jewel?"

Trisha looked interested at that. Even though she played all of the legend of Zelda games, she never heard of such a Jewel before in any of them. Link and Mido themselves sounded intrigued but Saria's comment.

"It is said that the one who holds the Optare gets hold of a great power that enables the finder to make and do almost the impossible!"

"Anything?!"

"Well not anything and everything but they do say that if you obtain it then you can get a single wish...hence its name which means 'wishful'."

"That's just a myth. Such things can't exist!"

Mido proclaimed but Trisha was already hooked. Looking at Saria with hope lit eyes. She had already lived the impossible and is now journeying within a supposed video game world! Nothing seems all that out of the ordinary to her now.

"Saria, even if it's nothing but a myth or story, do you have any idea of where it could be found?"

Saria thought for a second,

"I'm not sure, but they do say that someone did find it before and it is now used as prize in some sort of tournament somewhere..."

Trisha smiled wider. This, the Optare Jewel, it was definitely, she was sure that it was a major lead. She wasn't sure what exactly, but her intuition told her so. Told her that she should definitely go after it. No matter how much of an unrealistic myth or legend it seemed...

"A tournament?"

Chris asked confused as he munched onto a banana from the bowl offered to him by Amy. He was really getting comfortable in this foreign world even though it hasn't been that long since he's been there. During that time, Chris pretty much cozened up with the gang, getting along strangely well with Sonic and establishing the fact he had nothing to do with a certain mad scientist in the shape of an egg. Don't ask.

"Yeah, you said you weren't from here, right? The tournament is a place that gathers people from all over the world so you might meet your people or even at least one of your friends that you were separated from!"

Tails said as he researched something on a computer. Chris wasn't sure what, but he wasn't interested enough to ask. It was his business.

"Sounds interesting but I'm not sure I'll find 'my people' if all the people going there have animal-ish forms like you. No offense."

Chris said as he took in another bite from the yellow fruit. At the end of his sentence, Sonic and his friends looked at one another before laughing and chuckling simultaneously at his phrase which caused Chris to be mildly irritated yet curious even more.

"What's so funny?"

"It's because you have such a narrow view of our world."

"A narrow view?"

Chris was now really confused which was showing in his face. Wasn't this the world of Sonic the Hedgehog? If that were the case then this is indeed a world where humanoid animals exist, no? Either that or SEGA has been lying to him all this time. Once the laughing died down, Tails volunteered to explain.

"Our world is divided into a couple of sections which you'd usually call continents but are in fact big enough to be called planets of their own, with different economies and biological niches and such. Even though we all share one planet, each continent has its own rules and people that it's almost impossible to consider us all inhabitants of the same world. I could elaborate but that'll probably take too much time..."

Chris stared wide eyed at that, trying to wrap his mind around it before grinning like a fool in awe.

"So...who are those that live in different worlds?"

Amy shrugged, answering him now.

"Who knows. All sorts of species and all continents have a non aggression treaty between them since like Tails said, each continent is big enough to be considered a planet and so each planet has enough problems dealing with their own inhabitants so all the 'world leaders' you may call them agreed to not have a thing to do with one another to ease the number problems they'll have to deal with. And since each continent has enough land and resources, no one ever really wanted to go to war or such. Even if someone ever did, other people always stopped them before it got too bad."

"Hoho~"

Chris mused; this was really interesting as Sonic continued.

"But, we still do share a planet and so as a way to chill out and get along, the world leaders sponsored this tournament where everyone from every continent could join if they can reach the meeting place which is at the center of the world where a neutral island rests. It's an annual tournament, though of course, people don't just come because they want to chill and have fun, but for the prizes!"

Chris listened on as he finished his banana, throwing it in the trash before sitting back where he was and leaning forward, edging them to go on. He had a feeling that this was only going to get better for him, in a number of ways.

"What sort of prizes?"

"It depends depending on which continent you live in but if one thing is sure it's that its big and awesome."

Chris laughed,

"That's too vague..."

The others laughed along too until Tails continued,

"Yes buuut, there's this one prize that's equal to all!"

"And that is?"

Amy beamed,

"The Optare Jewel!~ It's a magical jewel that's said to make anyone's single wish come true~"

"It's just a myth though, but it IS true that it is in fact, a very powerful item. Maybe just as much as the chaos emeralds too! But no one's too sure. However, it's still an object to be desired."

Chris nodded thoughtfully. The jewel seemed to intrigue him very much. After a moment's thought, he asked,

"When and where is the tournament?"

"Oh that, we already told you where and the date changes every year. Fliers come down announcing the date when its due everyti- wait. Why do you want to know? Don't tell me..."

Chris gave out a close eyed grin,

"Yup! You got me curious, I'm joining that tournament!"

Tails and Amy didn't know whether to be happy or shocked. They know they were the ones to suggest it but he agreed so readily and quickly that they became quite unnerved. Sonic, however, had a different opinion as he grinned as well. Stretching his hand out as Chris grasped it with his own shaking it.

"Mind if I join you then?"

"Nah, I kinda need a guide anyways...what's the name of the tournament by the way...?"

Chris asked in honest curiosity, though he definitely didn't expect Sonic's answer as the blue hedgehog grinned from ear to ear before answering,

"The name of this tournament is: Super Smash Bros!"

"Where is Chris?"

Jack asked out angrily and very much accusingly at the two tired girls sprawled on the ground. One of them, namely Yuri, did nothing but glare at the guy.

"And where did you come from suddenly asking and ordering questions out of the blue?!"

Jack didn't looked pleased, even irked at her comment. He wasn't in one of his patient moods. However, neither was Yuri as Reilla stood worriedly in the middle of the crossfire. She really hated having to be in the middle of them. Their fights never ended well and usually Chris or Bell or even both would mediate between the two. Though neither was here right now which only made things worse.

Yuri scoffed at dark haired fellow, stressing out every other word.

"And how am I supposed to know that? He's your friend, not mine."

Jack narrowed his gaze.

"I'm not kidding over here. You think I'm joking? Or maybe that I'm just stupid? Well sorry to disappoint, but I'm doing neither. So you better answer me now. I'm not in the mood to drag this on for long."

Yuri laughed,

"Ha! You think you're the only one not in the mood? I've had enough to deal with today without having to see your sorry ss so I'd really appreciate you leaving me out of your problems. I didn't see your friend. And that's that. Nothing else."

She said firmly. Not abandoning her stance but so was Jack, who only looked more irritated by all this stalling by the second. Rushie was behind him, and like Reilla, had no idea what to do or what she could do to stop those two from battling it out. Jack took a deep breath, pointing out at the patch of black blood the shadows left behind. Yuri's eyes widened at that, alert, she wasn't sure what he was going to say but she knew that it wasn't going to be something nice.

"There's a patch of dried blood in there, and you're covered in some of it too holding that weird sh!t of a weapon that girl Bell showed off a year ago. Ever since Chris started hanging around you lot, weird cr*p started ensuing. Talking about stuff that doesn't make sense and now him disappearing. I know that you guys have something to do with it. And you are going to tell me."

Jack finished his eyes dark and piercing. He was going to get the information he wants. No matter what. Yuri took a small step back, a drop of sweat falling down from her temple. She had to admit that he was being intimidating, but she couldn't back down, other than the fact that he probably wasn't going to listen or believe her, she didn't want to lose...not to him.

She took a deep breath, straightening her back. Reilla whispering to her not to do whatever it was that she was thinking of doing but it was obvious from the look in her eyes that she wasn't backing down as a smirk made its way to her lips. Holding her stance firmly, her arms stretched out in a defense position. She said in a simple and straightforward yet strong sentence.

"Make me."

"Heh~"

Jack mused, cracking his neck and stretching out his arms and legs. His gaze empowering as he asked in mock concern.

"You sure you want to do this? I have to warn you since I do study martial arts..."

Yuri's gaze didn't waver as she dared him to move from his position, to attack her. She wasn't budging and all Reilla could do in this situation was stand and run up to where Rushie was, away from the battle that was to take place, as bystanders.

Jack nodded in acknowledgement.

"Fine then, don't say I didn't warn you."

"You don't know how long I wanted to punch that stupid smug face of yours!"

Yuri cried as she ran up to him, giving the first move albeit her previous exhaustion in an attempt not to give him enough time to react and to take him by surprise. However that failed, as Jack swiftly dodged her punch, grabbing her outstretched hand and roughly pulling her forward to the other side making her slightly lose balance. But she didn't give in. turning as quickly as she could on her heel without tripping she barricaded him with as many forceful punches as possible. As fast and as strongly as she could.

However, Jack, again, merely dodged or blocked all of them. Hitting her back every time with a firm punch in her openings. He wasn't kidding when he said he studied self defense, meanwhile Yuri was only fighting on airs without training. The outcome was obvious however Yuri didn't want to admit it. Standing firm on her feet, continuing the fight. Wanting to beat Jack so badly as if wanting to prove something.

Jack was almost getting bored as with every time he pushed her down, Yuri stood up and fought again with an array of punches and kicks while all he did was dodge and block and return her attacks back at her swiftly. After the fight dragged on long enough, and Jack grew plenty frustrated with it and her, Yuri ran over and sent him another straight punch aimed at his face, but instead of dodging or blocking as per usual. Jack grabbed her fist, shocking her, but before she could do anything about it, Jack faced her with his back before using her own momentum against hr, with her arm against his shoulder, he pulled her forward, flipping her a whole 180 before hitting her harshly on the ground, forcing Yuri to let out a cry and groan of pain.

And yet, he wasn't finished, before she could even process anything, Jack was already on top of her, pinning her arms down with his hands and legs with his feet. She was rendered completely immobile. Yuri blinked a few times to get the dizziness out of her before she finally processed her situation, seeing an angry Jack over her body, glaring holes at her.

She struggled against his hold but it was futile. Jack had her down. He won. And that hurt her more than anything else.

"Answer me. Where's Chris."

He demanded as Yuri bit her lower lip, still looking defiant which only served to irritate him even more. Reilla and Rushie watched from the sidelines, worried and still unsure of what to do, and yet, before Yuri or Jack could say anything more, or Reilla and Rushie could do anything, another voice emerged.

"Yuri! What happened over here?!"

The quartet turned their heads to face a worried Akira. She had just arrived and from the way she was panting, she obviously ran over or maybe even in circles before getting here. Her gaze worried at the mess she was seeing. And yet Jack paid little attention to the newcomer, though Yuri seemed to have calmed down, stopping her struggle and relaxing. Seeing Akira reminded her of what truly mattered currently, her friends. One of whom was gone while the other two were gazing at her ever so worriedly.

She sighed in defeat yet still glaring at Jack,

"I'll answer you if you answer me first: Do you anyone or anybody who might have a pale imaginary friend who uses snow powers?"

She asked completely serious but still causing the others to be weirded out by her question, all of them but Akira who sadly understood the meaning behind her words. Not that there was much of a hidden one anyways.

Jack was about to shrug her off or to tell her to stop with the pointless question, but when seeing how serious she was, he couldn't help but realize that it was true concern for whoever that fellow was shining through her eyes. And so he answered her sincerely due to that,

"Sorry to disappoint, but no. No, I don't know anyone with that description."

"Oh..."

Yuri simply let out as Jack stood up from on top of her. Yuri standing up slowly and rubbing her wrists as Jack waited on impatiently. Reilla, Rushie and Akira joining on in their conversation. Yuri took a deep breath before continuing,

"If you can't find him then the same thing might have happened to him just like Bell;...he's gone."

Jack snapped at that.

"What do you mean, he's gone?!"

Yuri glared at him.

"Shadows attacked her and then she started glowing before she up and disappeared! I'm saying the same happened to him! But I know, I know they'll be back. Since they always have. You heard their conversation from a year ago when they discussed Mega, it's not my fault if you do not wish to believe them..."

She stated firmly, her eyes steady and yet awaiting him to yell back at her, but he didn't as he instead pondered her words for a while before turning tail to the opposite direction where they came from, towards the campus.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

Jack didn't stop as he walked forward, only his voice echoed on from his retreating back,

"Even though I'm not buying it, you said they'll be back, right? Then we better get back and make excuses to the teachers before they start freaking out and causing an unneeded uproar..."

He said simply, leaving the girls dumbfounded before Yuri started to chuckle then full out laugh. The other three watching her weirdly before she spoke,

"He might be a jerk, but he too is..."

"Is what?"

"Nevermind...let's go!"

Yuri chorused as she ran back to campus as well, not caring enough to change as she could pass off the black blood stains as mud. The other three following on behind.

She could never admit it out loud, but Yuri had to acknowledge the fact that Jack was indeed a faithful friend in his own right. As irritating as that is...

" _ran...iyo...Hi...ra...Hiyoran!_ "

I snapped my eyes open only to stare directly at the eyes of my teammates; Ramco and Marco. Their gazes writhed of worry at my state, not that I could blame them.

" _Hiyo...if you're too tired please take a rest in the infirmary-_ "

" _-yeah, you keep dazing and dozing off..._ "

I smiled genuinely at the two,

" _Thank you, but I'm alright. I wish to see the rest of the fights._ "

The twins looked as though they wanted to object further but knew that I wouldn't give and so instead helped support me as I continued watching the genin fights. There were only a couple left. My earlier scuffle with Zen thankfully ended without problems thanks to the teachers, though he's still eyeing and glaring at me nonstop. It's really uncomfortable.

After much begging too, I was somehow able to convince master Shinzu and the others to let me continue watching the fights. I really wouldn't miss them for the world. They also seemed to have put my whole scuffle with the shadow Mao Louk behind them. Though I could just feel that as soon as this is over and I recover enough, it'll be straight to the Hokage's office for questioning. Sigh, woe is me...

So far from what I've seen, Shitsuko beat Izu in a fight when he stole his eye patch and Izu grew irritated by that and so gave up just to get it back. That was very surprising for many as no one expected him to give up for something like that. Either the eye patch is important or something was wrong with his eye which he didn't want anybody to see. Anyways, Shitsuko won and he was rather happy about it even if he won by unnatural means. Komoritori, the female of their team, also sadly lost in her fight making Shitsuko the only one from his team to pass through.

There was also Ramco's fight which was against Joey. To which after a heated fight, he unfortunately lost, but he didn't dwell on it much, even congratulating Joey who showed his gratitude for his words. Marco then proceeded with comforting his brother and so did I. All of our team fights didn't end all that well too, sigh.

Naruto also kept on bugging me about my silver eye too, and I could tell that he wasn't the only one intrigued by it. I passed a hand smoothly through the eye patch that hid it. To be honest, it isn't anything special or badass like the Sharingan or Byakugan. It wasn't a great Kenkei Genkai of some mysterious foreign clan. No. I had no such epic back story. Ironically, it's the aftermath of a scar given to me by one of our precious creepyzoid enemies; the shadows.

I closed my eyes, leaning onto my arms, my consciousness fading into a memory as I could still remember the pain from the fresh wound of being stabbed in the eye by that green eyed shadow. I half opened my eyes, still dazed, barely focusing on the fight at hand. It was such a majestic looking shadow although he was the most dangerous one of all from my experience. And for some reason I just kept bumping into him. I wonder if he escaped Mega and its owner too? I kind of pray not, it'd be unlucky to meet him again...

Anyways, after the wound in my eye healed, it turned from its usual chocolate brown color to a faint silver white tint, which is the reason to my eye's current appearance now. So it really isn't anything too fancy. Doctors, back home, were bewildered as to how my eye became as such, unable to provide an explanation or a cure. Not that I could blame them. Even here, in the land of magical ninjutsu, the medic ninjas could barely do a thing against it.

Usually I'd cover it with my usual eye patch that I wore while even appearing here, since looking around with it hurts my brain and gives me migraines, but during a fight in one of my team missions, it was ripped off, exposing it. And it was then that the weirdest thing happened. I noticed this prior to then but it became stronger, the fact that I know could see the world in a whole new light using my eye. It's like the world became suddenly much clearer, as if looking through a giant magnifying glass...even better!

My precision and accuracy when fighting, especially when throwing weapons like kunais and shurikens, increased by a tenfold and once realizing that, master Shinzu made sure to train me harshly physically to be able to use my eye to the fullest. But I still can't use it constantly for over a minute or two currently or else it fries my nerves from all the stress and causes my eye to bleed out as seen earlier. So basically, I'm still a total amateur at it.

I now usually cover is using a contact lens that obstructs my vision and has a brown color when looked from the outside to hide away my silver eye not to bring too much attention to myself. After all, ninjas are supposed to stay hidden. Oh, and I use a normal contact lens for my vision on my other eye since glasses break too easily during fights. And that's that.

I snapped out of my train of thought right in time to watch Choji's fight against that guy from the sound, what was his name again, I think it was Dosu or something. Anyways, the fight begun and Choji went on to fight full throttle after he was promised to some BBQ later by his master. I giggled at that as Choji used a technique to turn himself into a giant a ball that could be propelled using his chakra, saying that in this form he has his ears blocked and so Dosu's sound waves won't reach him.

However, Dosu proved him wrong once Choji slammed into a wall from the force of his propulsion, getting stuck in it as Dosu took his sweet time getting there only to needing to make Choji have contact with his amplifier in his arms for his sound waves to reverberate all throughout his body using his blood, which is a liquid, as a medium. Ensuring his victory in this fight and thus concluding this part of the genin exams. I honestly felt bad for Choji, he fought so hard for his BBQ. Master Azuma was still going to treat them anyways.

I chuckled at that as I stretched lightly, not to reopen any of my healing wounds. The winners making their way down to figure out whom their next opponent was by drawing lots. I counted on my fingers all the winners " _Hiyo,_ "; we have Sasuke, Shino, " _Hiyo,_ " Dosu, Naruto, Neji, Gaara...Gaara. " _Hiyo,_ " Hmm, I wished I could've done something for Lee there. I knew he was going to break his leg but couldn't do a thing as I dozed off again " _Hiyo,_ " during his fight. Same with Hinata. " _Hiyo,_ " Now I feel guilty even though I know there wasn't much I could do anyways. I know that they'll get better but I couldn't help but worry..." _Hiyo,_ "

Irk mark,

" _WHAT DO YOU WANT ALREADY?! Calling me 'Hiyo, Hiyo, Hiyo' over and over again! I was thinking!_ "

I raged at the twins who kept on calling over and over again excessively. The twins shrunk at my cry, raising their arms out in pitiful surrender as they had looks that begged for mercy. I sighed, raising a brow which was their cue to speak.

" _Aren't you going down?_ "

" _Why would I do that? I didn't win, if anything, Marco should be the one going down..._ "

I stated in bewilderment but all the twins did was smile and grin doofusly after which master Shinzu rested a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him but he only motioned with his head that I should go down. I looked confused for a while longer before my eyes widened in realization.

" _No, no no no no, I can't be...I couldn't possibly...impossible. Marco is so much better, why me?_ "

Master Shinzu sighed as though he expected my reaction, which I bet he did.

" _We discussed this amongst ourselves when you were unconscious. We even asked your friends for input. Usually, we'd mark this fight as a draw except that both of you weren't fighting one another but an extracurricular force_ instead and the one who showed much more promise was you."

Master Shinzu summarized as the twins nodded, Marco following suit,

" _I know that usually you'd think of me or Ramco being stronger, which is true. You never beat us in a spar even once, but-_ "

" _See?_!"

" _I said_ _but_ _, but in this fight, while I used genjutsu to act as if I were dead you fought on as hard as you could which is the essence of ninja. You stayed calm under the whole situation and tried your best to come up with a strategy. Even though the former is probably due to being familiar with your opponent, however that doesn't change the fact that you were much more useful in that fight than I was. You fought on while I gave up. And mostly everyone here agrees that you should pass through..._ "

" _Isn't that against the rules of the exam though?!_ "

" _Master Hayate permitted it..._ "

Ramco added innocently and at that moment, I half wished I could punch the judge. How could they think that?! I was so unfit! I only fought Marco with the intention of not hurting his pride by giving up easily, but I knew the outcome of that fight!...and that was that I was going to lose! How did it come to this? Out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed the small smirk in Zen's face, his visage still dark though. He probably enjoys the idea that with this he'll have the chance to watch me fight and get beat up or something. This was another reason for me to right out refuse this craziness!

But I couldn't, looking at the twins faces along with my teacher and Sakura and Naruto's and the other. Those gazes they directed at me made it almost for me to refuse. They really believe in me...I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath before whipping my head back and facing master Shinzu with wavering determination.

" _Fine. If you all say so then okay, I'm going to try my best but I'm not going to promise anything..._ "

I said firmly, trying to sound angry but failing into a pout as the twins jumped on. Both hugging me and ruffling my hair in merry.

" _Quit that! You're messing up my hair!_ "

The twins laughed as I could hear some cheering, looking up to master Shinzu to see him put on smirk as if he knew this was going to happen, which again, he probably did. I let myself be engulfed in the twins cheering as I started to feel dizzy, the aftereffects of being possessed by a shadow still there. A bad feeling piling up in my gut as I looked towards the other winners. I knew what was coming next and it wasn't pretty and yet there was something else foreboding about all of this, something I couldn't place my finger on and so let go as I took a deep breath. The story must go on after all...

 **To be continued~...**


End file.
